Enhanced DMV License After Labor Day
Thursday, May 29th, 2008Great Article on ‘Newsday’ regarding the availability of DMV licenses after Labor Day:
ALBANY - After Labor Day, vacationers on cruise ships to the Caribbean and motorists to Canada will be able to apply for a new driver’s license that meets tougher federal identification requirements to re-enter the United States, beginning in June 2009.
Officials said yesterday that New York would be only the second state in the country, after Washington, to roll out an Enhanced Driver License that doubles as a passport book but costs $20 less. The new license can be obtained only by residents with proof of U.S. citizenship, and it isn’t valid for entry to the country by airplane.
Applicants must visit a Department of Motor Vehicles office with the required proof of identity, such a birth certificate and passport, among others. The voluntary process shouldn’t take any longer than for the current driver’s license, said officials.
The enhanced license was first raised last fall by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer as part of a larger plan to offer regular driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants in an attempt to reduce traffic accidents and better track residents. The illegal-immigrant component sparked a firestorm, forcing Spitzer to drop it in November. But officials said yesterday that plans for the enhanced license moved forward with talks between state and federal agencies.
The enhanced license “represents a major step forward that will help the upstate economy [near the Canadian border] and offer a convenience for all New Yorkers who travel in North America,” said Gov. David A. Paterson.
U.S. homeland security czar Michael Chertoff hopes other states will follow New York and Washington in advance of a new border inspection regime set to go into effect on June 1, 2009. Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, residents will have to show a passport or other valid identification, such as the enhanced license, to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda via land or sea.
The new license, costing $80, will resemble the current one but will include an American flag on the front and have a radio-frequency identification chip allowing border guards to access necessary information. The fee for renewing a driver’s license would remain $50.
At the Capitol yesterday, the enhanced license received a cool bipartisan reception. Sen. John Flanagan (R-East Northport), a member of his body’s homeland security committee, questioned the wisdom of establishing “a two-tiered licensing system” and whether the DMV could administer the program. He cited the agency’s issuing of 23,000 driver’s licenses to foreign visitors here legally on a temporary basis - and refusal to rescind them after Spitzer withdrew his license plan.
Assemb. Patricia Eddington (D-Medford), a member of her body’s government operations committee, said, “I don’t understand why we would need an enhanced driver’s license if we have a passport. What purpose does it serve?”