New Ohio driver’s licenses and identification cards debuting in January 2013 likely will cost more, require additional documentation and take longer to get.

Federal and state officials have no current cost estimates to implement the programs in Ohio or nationally, but a 2008 Department of Homeland Security document detailed an 11-year national rollout cost at $9.9 billion under mandates that since have been relaxed.

Foes of the controversial Real ID Act of 2005 say the federally mandated measure has serious security questions and will never be fully implemented because 15 states have passed bipartisan legislation to bar its enactment and 10 more have passed resolutions denouncing it.

Ohio was not one of those states, but former Ohio Rep. Diana Fessler, R-New Carlisle, did present a resolution in 2008 calling for the federal government to repeal Real ID.

The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles said the new “Safe ID” cards are designed to be compliant with the controversial federal act that grew out of the 9/11 Commission recommendations. That legislation was woven into an emergency supplemental appropriations act for defense, anti-terrorism and tsunami relief signed by former President George W. Bush.

“DHS remains committed to improving the security of state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards,” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Nicole Stickel said. “By improving the security of state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards, we bolster nationwide capabilities to prevent terrorism, reduce fraud, and improve the reliability and accuracy of personal identification documents.”

BMV officials have no estimates on how much more the new IDs will cost to produce or how much more they will cost to purchase. BMV spokesperson Lindsey Bohrer said the Ohio government plans to “comply with all provisions of the Real ID Act.”

“Real ID is kind of dying a slow death because states are saying we are not going to comply with it; we don’t want to comply with it,” said Ohio American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Mike Brickner. “It begs the question as to why Ohio is going ahead with it.

“It was going to cost not only the state itself more money to implement, but it’s also going to cost individual drivers more money when you’re going to get your ID.

“That’s not a very popular thing when we’re dealing with really deep budget problems on the state level.”

Bohrer said it is important for Ohio to comply.

“The new credential will protect citizens from ID fraud, allow citizens on and off domestic flights, allow citizens in and out of federal buildings,” she said. “Ohioans should be proud, when this process is complete, we believe it will be one of the most secure credentials in the country.

Wait time added

BMV documents say that drivers will no longer be able to get these new IDs while they wait.

The cards will be mailed from an as-yet-unknown centralized location. The wait time is estimated at 7-10 days, but a temporary paper driver’s license or ID issued by local BMV offices will be valid for 45 days.

Officials at the Ohio BMV say the Safe ID cards will be thinner, have a new look, a new feel and feature enhanced security features to thwart counterfeiters.

The new IDs won’t be able to be de-laminated and will feature raised portions and new marks for security. During the wait for the new IDs to show up, citizens’ previous driver’s license or ID will be hole-punched and returned to be used as additional proof of identity with the interim card.

The BMV said individual agencies will decide if the temporary ID will suffice.

Ohio last changed its drivers license and prices in 2009 when they increased from $24 to $25.75. Bohrer said the Real ID act-compliant cards were being developed then.

On its Facebook page, the Ohio BMV is asking consumers if Safe IDs being mailed by the U.S. Postal Service is fine or if consumers would pay for registered or express delivery services which would mean additional cost.

The BMV said the unknown price hike for IDs would need to be approved through legislation.

Enforcement questions

The new cards are optional until 2017 as the more than 7.5 million Ohio drivers’ licenses expire. But on Dec. 1, 2014, the Ohio BMV says federal agencies will no longer accept state driver licenses or identification cards for “official” purposes from those born after Dec. 1, 1964 unless they are Real ID compliant. Those born before that date who hold legacy IDs will be accepted until those cards expire.

Official purposes means boarding commercial aircraft, gaining access to federal buildings such as courts or entering nuclear power plants.

Whether any state actually enforces that mandate is subject to debate.

“It’s almost unfathomable that the federal government would say, ‘All residents of the state of Montana cannot fly or cannot enter into a federal courthouse,’ ” Brickner said. “That’s just not going to happen.”

Stickel said despite the opposition that “States have made significant progress in meeting the minimum security standards of the regulation. To further assist states in meeting the REAL ID requirements, DHS has awarded over $200 million in grants to strengthen driver’s license security programs.”

Bohrer said several states have submitted Real ID compliance packages to the Department of Homeland Security and that 36 states are materially compliant or likely will be by the deadline of Jan. 15, 2013.

Those numbers are from the National Security Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies, which also showed that Ohio has received $4.33 million in grants from 2008 to 2011.

On that group’s website, Director Janice Kephart is quoted as saying:

“The September 11 hijackers had between them 30 state-issued driver’s licenses and non-driver identification cards. These IDs were used not only to board airplanes but also to navigate in our society in preparation for the attacks. This is why the 9/11 Commission recommended a tightening of ID standards and why Congress in 2005 passed the REAL ID Act.”

Opposing views

In a March hearing in the U.S. House Subcommittee on the Judiciary regarding the Real ID Act, Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, blamed President Barack Obama’s administration for delaying the act.

“If we don’t do everything in our power to fully implement REAL ID, we set ourselves up for another attack,” Smith said.

During that hearing, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) called Real ID a “stalled law ready for burial.” The deadline for compliance already has been pushed back from 2007 to 2009 to 2011 to 2013.

Bills presented in the past few years by U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii) and Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) to repeal or lessen the Real ID Act have been unsuccessful.

The ACLU also questions the security of a database with that much information.

“Are there going to be protections to ensure that those aren’t going to be hack-able and those are going to be protected,” Brickner said. “Having a database with everyone’s Social Security card and birth certificate and all of that other information for everyone in Ohio is basically going to be an identity thief’s dream come true.”

Costs unknown

The cost to produce the new cards has not been set by MorphoTrust USA, the recently renamed arm of a France-based multi-national corporation that has the Ohio ID contract.

Bohrer said the current card stock is $1.139 per ID, but “that doesn’t include transaction fees.” She also said the BMV’s current contract with MorphoTrust has not been updated to account for new IDs.

On its website, MorphoTrust claims to have produced more than 2 billion government IDs including TSA workers, the FBI and the Department of Defense. It also says it provides drivers’ licenses for 41 states and is the prime contractor for the U.S. Passport Card.

A part of the multinational Safran group that specializes in aerospace, defense and security, MorphoTrust claims 2,800 employees, worldwide subsidiaries, six production centers and nine development centers. MorphoTrust USA, which had been called L-1 Solutions and is headquartered in Billerica, Mass., did not return a message.