Tester and Montana delegation introduce legislation to repeal REAL ID

Senator Jon Tester, Senator Steve Daines and Congressman Ryan Zinke today announced that they have formally introduced legislation repealing federal mandates for driver’s licenses included in the REAL ID Act of 2005. 

“REAL ID violates the constitutional freedoms of law-abiding Americans and has no place in Montana,” said Tester. “I will continue my fight to protect Montanans from this costly overreach that invades privacy and forces local taxpayers to foot the bill.”

Tester first authored and introduced legislation to block the implementation of REAL ID standards, the “Identification Security Enhancement Act,” in 2007.

By repealing Title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005, which establishes national standards for driver’s licenses and non-driver identification cards, the “Repeal ID Act” will ensure that the 2007 Montana law banning compliance with REAL ID driver’s license mandates is protected.

DHS recently granted Montana an extension for meeting REAL ID mandates until October 10, 2016. Without an additional extension or repeal of the REAL ID requirements, Montanans will eventually be required to show additional documents of identification when flying in the United States.