New federal law for driver’s licenses bumpy ride for Worcester area residents
By
Elaine Thompson
Telegram & Gazette Staff
Posted Apr 28, 2018 at 8:16 PM
Updated Apr 28, 2018 at 9:03 PM
WORCESTER – Justine Bwira stood patiently in line with a handful of
documents at the Registry of Motor Vehicles Thursday, waiting for her
number to be called so that she could get a license.
When she finally got up to the counter she handed a clerk what she thought were all the required identification documents, including a voter-registration correspondence the city had mailed to her. Even though it had her name and address on it, she said she was told it was not enough to prove she lives at that address.
“I’m not happy,” Ms. Bwira said with the emotion visible on her face as she hurried out the door of the RMV. “I’m going home and coming back with more proof of my address ... I have to do this today.”
Ms. Bwira is not alone in the confusion and inconvenience surrounding the requirement for additional forms of proof of identification, U.S. citizenship or lawful presence in the country, and principal residency address in order to get the standard driver’s license, nondriver Massachusetts identification card or the new REAL ID driver’s license and ID card.
The new license and ID card, which became available in Massachusetts March 26, are a requirement of the REAL ID Act, a federal security standard adopted by Congress in 2005 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. The goal is to hinder the ability of terrorists to go undetected by using fraudulent identification.
After years of attempts by some members of Congress to alter or appeal the law, Homeland Security in 2013 announced that implementation of the first of four phases would begin January 2014.
The final phase, which requires REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses for domestic air travel, to access certain federal facilities and to enter nuclear power plants, went into effect Jan. 22. States can also continue to issue the standard driver’s license, but they will state that they are not acceptable for official purposes. The REAL ID license either has a gold or black star on the face. People with a standard driver’s license will be able to use an active passport to fly within the U.S.
Twenty states, including Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, have been granted extensions until Oct. 10 for REAL ID enforcement. The drop-dead date for all states to be on board with the REAL ID Act is October 2020.
Linda L. Chruney, assistant to the president at Central Massachusetts Safety Council in West Boylston, said the law is working well in areas of the country that are in full compliance. Her parents went to the nation’s capital three years ago for their 50th anniversary. Because they do not have a passport or REAL ID driver’s licenses, they were not allowed to go into any federal buildings, she said.
She said the state could have done a better job of educating residents about the new law.
“I think there was some public-service announcement on TV. And the registry put signs on the side of the highway. I didn’t see a lot about it,” she said. “It seems like they probably didn’t do as much as they should.”
RMV spokeswoman Judith Riley said a public information campaign was launched the fall of 2017 with a press release, social media, signs in malls and on billboards and information on the RMV website.
Beginning in February, she said, the state also expanded its postcard license-renewal reminders to a letter to include information about the new enhanced identification requirements. The RMV discontinued the mailings in November 2008 to save money. After an outpouring of complaints, the practice was resumed in 2013.
Recent breakdowns in the the RMV’s network has added to customers’ frustrations and long lines.
“You’ll never get your license unless you go online because you won’t have the right forms with you. That’s what happened to my son,” William J. Conley of Dudley said Wednesday.
Mr. Conley, a retired Marine Corps colonel and College of the Holy Cross administrator, said he has time to go online and get information, but a lot of people don’t. He tried to renew his wife, Kathleen’s, license online, but you cannot do that to get the REAL ID license. With all the required forms of identification and more, Mrs. Conley was able to get the new license at the AAA in Auburn.
Their 52-year-old son, William J. Conley Jr., had a much different
experience at the Southbridge RMV branch Wednesday. He said his license
expired in March, but he forgot because he didn’t get a license-renewal
reminder from the state.
“I got there at 10 a.m., got a (number) at 11:15 a.m. and I did not get out of there until 3 p.m.,” Mr. Conley said. “If you impose additional ... requirements and you don’t provide the personnel to handle it, of course, you’re going to have four-hour waits.”
Ms. Riley, the RMV spokeswoman said the agency added additional workers to allow regular staff to be trained without impacting service delivery before the new ATLAS computer system was implemented and has retained those workers to help with the transition. ATLAS, the RMV’s first new system in 30 years, enables the issuance of credentials that comply with the REAL ID law.
Ms. Riley said the registry had brief technical difficulties with the network on Wednesday. Those issues, she said, were unrelated to the new ATLAS system and and only impacted registration and title transactions.
On Thursday and Friday, a nationwide network outage affected motor vehicle registry systems in every state. For a while, RMVs across the state could only verify lawful presence with U.S. birth certificates.
Several people who went to the RMV branch on Main Street Wednesday and Thursday appeared unaware of REAL ID. An employee who gave out numbers to customers to indicate their place in the sequence to see a clerk also gave them information about the requirements, if they were there to get new or renewed driver’s licenses or nondriver identification cards.
The younger Conley said he could not get the new REAL ID driver’s license, because he had all the required forms of identification except for an original Social Security card. The retired Marine lieutenant colonel did have a Department of Defense military identification containing his Social Security number, but he was told that was not acceptable. However, under the new law, he will be able to use his valid military ID for plane travel.
Tashiel Johnson, 21, and Moses Early II, 22, said they have been to
the RMV several times to try to get nondriver ID cards. The two men, who
have had troubled pasts, recently helped clean up Vernon Hill Park and
do other volunteer work around the city. They need ID cards to find a
good job. But they left the RMV empty-handed Thursday.
Mr. Early, who was recently released from prison, said he had a state ID and thought because record of it was in the RMV system he could pay a fee and have it renewed. He said he had some identification but not everything that was requested.
“Now, I have to pay $160 to ride the train to New Haven to try to get a copy of my birth certificate,” he said with frustration outside the RMV. “They’re just really being a pain in the behind.”
Mr. Johnson, recently released from DYS custody, where he was from age 16, said a clerk was about to accept his original Social Security card until another clerk told her not to because the seal was faded.
Manuela Ricketts, 44, from Worcester had a hard time as she tried to get her very first learner’s permit. After 19 years of marriage, during which she took public transportation or was driven by her husband, she now wants to be able to drive. The problem she encountered is that most of her forms of identification are under her married name. She wants to get the driver’s license in her maiden name, Perez, which is only on her birth certificate. She even had the name on her Social Security card changed to Ricketts. She said she was instructed to go to the court and get a certified copy of her divorce decree, which would show both names.
“That’s going to be another headache for me,” she said, seemingly taking the challenge in stride.
Some municipal clerks, including in Shrewsbury, Worcester and Southboro, said they have had several requests for copies of marriage certificates to help with getting their licenses.
Ms. Chruney, with CMSC, which offers driving education courses, said
the biggest hurdle for the foreign population coming into the state is
that they have to live in the U.S. for 12 months before they can begin
the process to get a driver’s license.
“I think the purpose of it (the REAL ID law) was to prevent a lot of people that aren’t here lawfully from getting a license,” she said.
The requirements are difficult for parents of some teens who are trying to get a learner’s permit or license. She said teens need certain documents, including a W2, a pay stub and a bank statement.
“Many of them don’t have a job or a bank account and they’re not paying bills yet. That’s what parents are struggling with,” she said.
Although the law may be confusing and inconvenient for some, the elder Mr. Conley, said the law will keep undocumented immigrants from getting federally approved driver’s licenses. And he thinks the law should go further.
“This is required for everything except to vote,” he said. “Why would you not have to have a license to vote? It makes absolutely no sense. I think we’ve got the wrong end of the cart pulling the horse.”
When she finally got up to the counter she handed a clerk what she thought were all the required identification documents, including a voter-registration correspondence the city had mailed to her. Even though it had her name and address on it, she said she was told it was not enough to prove she lives at that address.
“I’m not happy,” Ms. Bwira said with the emotion visible on her face as she hurried out the door of the RMV. “I’m going home and coming back with more proof of my address ... I have to do this today.”
Ms. Bwira is not alone in the confusion and inconvenience surrounding the requirement for additional forms of proof of identification, U.S. citizenship or lawful presence in the country, and principal residency address in order to get the standard driver’s license, nondriver Massachusetts identification card or the new REAL ID driver’s license and ID card.
The new license and ID card, which became available in Massachusetts March 26, are a requirement of the REAL ID Act, a federal security standard adopted by Congress in 2005 in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. The goal is to hinder the ability of terrorists to go undetected by using fraudulent identification.
After years of attempts by some members of Congress to alter or appeal the law, Homeland Security in 2013 announced that implementation of the first of four phases would begin January 2014.
The final phase, which requires REAL ID-compliant driver’s licenses for domestic air travel, to access certain federal facilities and to enter nuclear power plants, went into effect Jan. 22. States can also continue to issue the standard driver’s license, but they will state that they are not acceptable for official purposes. The REAL ID license either has a gold or black star on the face. People with a standard driver’s license will be able to use an active passport to fly within the U.S.
Twenty states, including Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, have been granted extensions until Oct. 10 for REAL ID enforcement. The drop-dead date for all states to be on board with the REAL ID Act is October 2020.
Linda L. Chruney, assistant to the president at Central Massachusetts Safety Council in West Boylston, said the law is working well in areas of the country that are in full compliance. Her parents went to the nation’s capital three years ago for their 50th anniversary. Because they do not have a passport or REAL ID driver’s licenses, they were not allowed to go into any federal buildings, she said.
“I think there was some public-service announcement on TV. And the registry put signs on the side of the highway. I didn’t see a lot about it,” she said. “It seems like they probably didn’t do as much as they should.”
RMV spokeswoman Judith Riley said a public information campaign was launched the fall of 2017 with a press release, social media, signs in malls and on billboards and information on the RMV website.
Beginning in February, she said, the state also expanded its postcard license-renewal reminders to a letter to include information about the new enhanced identification requirements. The RMV discontinued the mailings in November 2008 to save money. After an outpouring of complaints, the practice was resumed in 2013.
Recent breakdowns in the the RMV’s network has added to customers’ frustrations and long lines.
“You’ll never get your license unless you go online because you won’t have the right forms with you. That’s what happened to my son,” William J. Conley of Dudley said Wednesday.
Mr. Conley, a retired Marine Corps colonel and College of the Holy Cross administrator, said he has time to go online and get information, but a lot of people don’t. He tried to renew his wife, Kathleen’s, license online, but you cannot do that to get the REAL ID license. With all the required forms of identification and more, Mrs. Conley was able to get the new license at the AAA in Auburn.
“I got there at 10 a.m., got a (number) at 11:15 a.m. and I did not get out of there until 3 p.m.,” Mr. Conley said. “If you impose additional ... requirements and you don’t provide the personnel to handle it, of course, you’re going to have four-hour waits.”
Ms. Riley, the RMV spokeswoman said the agency added additional workers to allow regular staff to be trained without impacting service delivery before the new ATLAS computer system was implemented and has retained those workers to help with the transition. ATLAS, the RMV’s first new system in 30 years, enables the issuance of credentials that comply with the REAL ID law.
Ms. Riley said the registry had brief technical difficulties with the network on Wednesday. Those issues, she said, were unrelated to the new ATLAS system and and only impacted registration and title transactions.
On Thursday and Friday, a nationwide network outage affected motor vehicle registry systems in every state. For a while, RMVs across the state could only verify lawful presence with U.S. birth certificates.
Several people who went to the RMV branch on Main Street Wednesday and Thursday appeared unaware of REAL ID. An employee who gave out numbers to customers to indicate their place in the sequence to see a clerk also gave them information about the requirements, if they were there to get new or renewed driver’s licenses or nondriver identification cards.
The younger Conley said he could not get the new REAL ID driver’s license, because he had all the required forms of identification except for an original Social Security card. The retired Marine lieutenant colonel did have a Department of Defense military identification containing his Social Security number, but he was told that was not acceptable. However, under the new law, he will be able to use his valid military ID for plane travel.
Mr. Early, who was recently released from prison, said he had a state ID and thought because record of it was in the RMV system he could pay a fee and have it renewed. He said he had some identification but not everything that was requested.
“Now, I have to pay $160 to ride the train to New Haven to try to get a copy of my birth certificate,” he said with frustration outside the RMV. “They’re just really being a pain in the behind.”
Mr. Johnson, recently released from DYS custody, where he was from age 16, said a clerk was about to accept his original Social Security card until another clerk told her not to because the seal was faded.
Manuela Ricketts, 44, from Worcester had a hard time as she tried to get her very first learner’s permit. After 19 years of marriage, during which she took public transportation or was driven by her husband, she now wants to be able to drive. The problem she encountered is that most of her forms of identification are under her married name. She wants to get the driver’s license in her maiden name, Perez, which is only on her birth certificate. She even had the name on her Social Security card changed to Ricketts. She said she was instructed to go to the court and get a certified copy of her divorce decree, which would show both names.
“That’s going to be another headache for me,” she said, seemingly taking the challenge in stride.
Some municipal clerks, including in Shrewsbury, Worcester and Southboro, said they have had several requests for copies of marriage certificates to help with getting their licenses.
“I think the purpose of it (the REAL ID law) was to prevent a lot of people that aren’t here lawfully from getting a license,” she said.
The requirements are difficult for parents of some teens who are trying to get a learner’s permit or license. She said teens need certain documents, including a W2, a pay stub and a bank statement.
“Many of them don’t have a job or a bank account and they’re not paying bills yet. That’s what parents are struggling with,” she said.
Although the law may be confusing and inconvenient for some, the elder Mr. Conley, said the law will keep undocumented immigrants from getting federally approved driver’s licenses. And he thinks the law should go further.
“This is required for everything except to vote,” he said. “Why would you not have to have a license to vote? It makes absolutely no sense. I think we’ve got the wrong end of the cart pulling the horse.”
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