LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION urging the New York State Congressional deleg-
ation to support measures to repeal the REAL ID Act of 2005 and protect
the civil liberties of the citizens of New York State

WHEREAS, The citizens of New York recognize the Constitution of the
United States as our charter of liberty and that the Bill of Rights
enshrines the fundamental and inalienable rights of Americans, including
the freedoms of privacy and from unreasonable searches; and
WHEREAS, Each of New York State's duly elected public servants has
sworn to defend and uphold the United States Constitution and the
Constitution of the State of New York; and
WHEREAS, The citizens of New York denounce and condemn all acts of
terrorism by any entity, wherever the acts occur; and
WHEREAS, Terrorist attacks against Americans, such as those that
occurred on September 11, 2001, have necessitated the crafting of effec-
tive laws to protect citizens of the United States and others from
terrorist attacks; and
WHEREAS, Any new security measures of federal, state, and local
governments should be carefully designed and employed to enhance public
safety without infringing on the civil liberties and rights of innocent
citizens of New York and the United States; and
WHEREAS, The REAL ID Act of 2005 creates a national identification
card by requiring uniform information be placed on every state drivers
license, requiring this information to be machine readable in a standard
format and requiring this card for any federal purpose including air
travel; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID will be a costly unfunded mandate on the state and
will cost nearly $840 million over ten years, and the Act will cost at
least $9 billion to implement nationally; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID requires the creation of a massive public sector
database containing the drivers license information on every American,
accessible to every state motor vehicle employee and state and federal
law enforcement officer; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID enables the creation of an additional massive private
sector database of drivers license information gained from scanning the
machine readable information contained on every drivers license; and
WHEREAS, These public and private databases are certain to contain
numerous errors and false information, creating significant hardship for
Americans attempting to verify their identity in order to fly, open a
bank account or perform any of the numerous functions required to live
in the United States today; and
WHEREAS, The Federal Trade Commission estimates that 10 million Ameri-
cans are victims of identity theft annually and these thieves are
increasingly targeting motor vehicle departments; REAL ID will enable
the crime of identity theft by making the personal information of all
Americans including name, date of birth, gender, drivers license or
identification card number, digital photograph, address and signature
accessible from tens of thousands of locations; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID requires the drivers licenses to contain actual home
addresses in all cases and makes no provision for securing personal
information for individuals in potential danger such as undercover
police officers and victims of stalking or criminal harassment; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID contains no exemption for religion, limits religious
liberty and tramples the beliefs of groups such as the Amish and some
Evangelical Christians; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID contains onerous record verification and retention
provisions that place unreasonable burdens on both the New York State

Department of Motor Vehicles and on 3rd parties required to verify
records; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID Act implementation could result in widespread
discrimination against many Americans - predominately low-income Ameri-
cans and people of color - who are unable to provide the requisite
documentation to demonstrate citizenship required to obtain a REAL ID
card under the current REAL ID Act framework; and
WHEREAS, While the required uses of a REAL ID card proliferate
throughout public and private life, people of color, many immigrants,
and low-income New Yorkers could face the denial of basic rights and
services; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID was passed without sufficient deliberation by
Congress and never received a hearing by any Congressional committee or
any vote solely on its own merits; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID eliminated a process of negotiated rulemaking initi-
ated under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004
which had convened federal, state and local policy makers, privacy advo-
cates and industry experts to solve the problem of misuse in identity
documents; and
WHEREAS, REAL ID would provide little security benefit and still leave
identification systems open to insider fraud, counterfeit documentation
and database failures; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the New York State Congressional delegation be and
hereby is respectfully memorialized by this Legislative Body to support
measures to repeal the REAL ID Act of 2005 and protect the civil liber-
ties of the citizens of New York State; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body supports the government of the
United States in its campaign against terrorism and affirms the commit-
ment of the United States that the campaign not be waged at the expense
of essential civil rights and liberties of citizens of this country that
are protected in the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That it is the policy of the citizens of New York to oppose
any portion of the REAL ID Act that violates the rights and liberties
guaranteed under the New York State Constitution or the United States
Constitution, including the Bill of Rights; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body shall refuse to enact any legis-
lation or authorize any appropriation to further the passage of REAL ID
in New York; and be it further
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body shall not encourage the misuse of
drivers license information by contracting with private parties who
purchase and collect such information for resale purposes; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Attorney General of New York State is encouraged to
review the security and privacy protections surrounding all personal
information collected by New York State and recommend improvements to
those procedures; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, Gover-
nor David A. Paterson, Senator Chuck Schumer, Senator Kirsten Gillib-
rand, and to each member of the Congressional delegation from the State
of New York.