According to the state Department of Motor Vehicles and the federal Transportation Security Administration, starting October 1, standard New York driver's licenses will no longer be acceptable for passengers flying domestically.
Acceptable forms of identification include federally compliant REAL IDs, passports, and state-issued enhanced driver's licenses. However, it appears not all TSA agents have got the message.
"Our constituents are coming back to our office and raising that concern because we've had people in the Dallas area, people get on the plane in Dallas and people get on the plane in the San Diego area and TSA are telling them that their enhanced driver's licenses are not going to be able to be used in the future come October 1," Niagara County Clerk Joe Jastrzemski, R, said.
Clerks like Jastrzemski are forwarding the concern that agents, particularly outside New York, don't seem to be familiar with enhanced licenses which are only available in five northern states.
"The NYS DMV has worked proactively with the Department of Homeland Security and Transportation Security Administration to ensure that EDLs are included in the federal government’s informational materials about the REAL ID Act. The NYS DMV successfully petitioned to have ‘state-issued Enhanced Driver Licenses’ added to the TSA’s webpage listing acceptable documentation, and whenever we receive a complaint that a customer was given inaccurate information about EDLs by a TSA agent, we report the incident to the TSA directly," DMV spokesperson Lisa Koumjian said.
The DMV has also requested that TSA staff be retrained to ensure they are aware that EDLs are acceptable for REAL ID purposes.
"If we have a constituent come in, we're supposed to reach out to the commissioner's office or the state DMV and they will try to work through the process," Jastrzemski said. "It's still a huge concern."
He isn't sure there's enough time to correct the issues before October, but he also sees another potential problem on the horizon. Jastrzemski said enhanced licenses could soon no longer be accepted to drive across the Canadian border.
"We've had some conversation with some immigration and customs officials who have mentioned that there is conversation going on in regards to that," he said. "There's nothing concrete. There's nothing that's 100 percent that that's in fact what's going to happen in the future but there's a real strong possibility that that could happen."
Customs and Border Protection said at this time, enhanced licenses are still accepted. But the clerk has heard lack of access to DMV records at the border under the Green Light Law may lead to changes.
"It's the availability to get on the DMV website and be able to in fact check to make sure that Joe Jastrzemski is in fact Joe Jastrzemski and this is his enhanced driver's license," he said.
Rep. Tom Reed, R-NY-23, is planning to speak with the Acting Homeland Security Secretary in the coming days about the issue.
“This would be a costly tax on an already overburdened New York taxpayer as a result of Governor Cuomo’s Green Light law," he said. "An enhanced New York driver’s license is $65. However, if Homeland Security will not accept New York state drivers licenses, we would have to tack on an extra $160 for a passport – with the possibility of an extra $65 fee on top of that to expedite the passport. Now, you’re into the hundreds of dollars for a simple I.D. The Governor should put New Yorkers first and repeal this law.”
State Senator Rob Ortt, R-North Tonawanda, also expressed concern over the issues.
“The implementation of the ‘Green Light Law’ has led to numerous well-documented issues with county DMV agencies and has now created further problems for law-abiding New Yorkers seeking to travel between the U.S. and Canada. These problems have been manufactured out of New York Democrats’ desires to openly defy federal law. The problems that have arisen due to this new legislation are the result of the careless actions by New York Democrats and jeopardizes New York’s ability to comply with federal security standards. Law-abiding New Yorkers are the real losers as a result of the policies of Gov. Cuomo and Democrats in the State Legislature.”