Kentucky's Transportation Cabinet is preparing to submit its application for another deadline extension on meeting the federal Real ID act. Without an extension or change to state law, beginning Jan. 22, 2018, Kentuckians won't be able to use just their driver's licenses as identification when flying domestically.
Keith Buckhout with the Cabinet's public affairs office says, "we intend to apply for an extension through October of 2017."
He says the Department of Homeland Security can take as much time as it likes responding, so it's possible the agency wouldn't get an answer until the day before the current extension expires, Oct. 10, 2016.
Buckhout says Kentucky meets the federal requirements when it comes to the actual cards. It's the commonwealth's roughly 140 licensing locations that are problematic. "Real ID requires that those locations where they print your ID have further security measures," he says. "For instance, badge access on doors, or key-pad access on doors. They would require that the people working to get constituents their IDs have fingerprint background checks."
In April, Governor Matt Bevin vetoed legislation aimed at bringing licensing sites into compliance, saying the state should wait to see what the next presidential administration has to say on the issue.
The chair of the Kentucky House Transportation Committee says he'll reintroducethe legislation when the next session starts in January.
Ohio and Indiana are alreadyin compliancewith Real ID.
What is the Real ID act?
From the Department of Homeland Security:
Passed by Congress in 2005, the REAL ID Act enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver's licenses.” The Act established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and prohibits Federal agencies from accepting for official purposes licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet these standards. States have made considerable progress in meeting this key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission and every state has a more secure driver’s license today than before the passage of the Act.
