Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

It all started because of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks

The Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York and Washington were the main motivation for the changes. In fact, the concept of a national standard for the issuance and production of driver's licenses was one of the key recommendations from the 9/11 Commission charged with investigating the attacks and the policy response to them.

The hijacker-pilot who flew into the Pentagon, Hani Hanjour, had four driver's licenses and ID cards from three states, the commission noted at the time.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

Something like Real ID cards were actually recommended from the start. You can look it up.

Here's what U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said about his proposal at the time:

"The REAL ID Act contains vital border security provisions aimed at preventing another 9/11-type attack by disrupting terrorist travel. Issuing driver's licenses to anyone, without knowing whether they are here legally or who they really are, is an open invitation for terrorists and criminals to hide in plain sight."

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Not everyone was on board

Civil libertarians objected almost from the start, saying a shared pool of information would be vulnerable to identity thieves and would effectively create a national ID card.

In response, that provision was changed so each state will maintain its own database. Sensenbrenner said the interstate links would be used only to make sure an applicant does not have a license elsewhere.

Advocates for illegal immigrants, meanwhile, chafed at language outlawing several states' practice of creating driving licenses for large numbers of undocumented residents living and working in their states.

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Supporters countered that Real ID is a national set of standards, not a national identification card.

Federal Department of Homeland Security officials note that Real ID does not create a federal database of driver license information.

Each jurisdiction continues to issue its own unique license, maintains its own records, and controls who gets access to those records and under what circumstances.

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Supporters said the benefits would outweigh the costs

In the end, they said, the security benefits would be worth the cost of more clerks and the inconvenience of longer waits at motor vehicle agencies.

"If somebody has to stand in line a few minutes more in order to make sure that the driver's license system is as secure as possible, that's a smaller price to pay than having thousands or tens of thousands of people killed in a terrorist attack where somebody used a driver's license to get on an airplane," Sensenbrenner, seen above, said in defending his plan, which was signed by President George W. Bush in May 2005.

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But the objections never really went away.

ACLU officials argued for years that law's language does not include strong enough restrictions on how the linked state databases can be used.

"They have created a national identification card and an interlinked set of databases whereby every driver's most sensitive personal information can be viewed by potentially thousands of employees and bureaucrats around the country," ACLU legal counsel Tim Sparapani said at the time the law was enacted.

Many state officials, meanwhile, balked at high costs imposed by the federal government.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

Pennsylvanians were among those who reacted badly

Echoing our Whiskey Rebellion roots, in May 2012, Pennsylvania became the most populous state that is refusing to comply with the federal Real ID Act. That was when Gov. Tom Corbett signed a bill that prohibited Pennsylvania from participating in the 7-year-old law's requirements.

We were in good company. At the time, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported 16 other states had passed legislation prohibiting compliance, while a few others had passed resolutions against it.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

Sen. Mike Folmer led the pushback here

Lebanon County Sen. Mike Folmer, he of medical marijuana fame, led the pushback here.

He argued, in part, that if Pennsylvania were to comply with Real ID, driver's licenses would become a standardized national identification card with a machine-readable zone containing valuable personal information.

PennDOT would then be required to link into a massive national database, opening the door to the possibility of major security breaches.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

But the fight was really a nothing-burger for a long time

The Real ID requirements were delayed many times, for many reasons.

In 2008, the Bush Administration pushed back the start date to try to win over more skeptical state officials.

In 2011, enforcement was pushed back to 2013 because, the Obama Administration said, it did not want to burden tight state budgets still reeling from the Great Recession with the new costs associated with Real ID.

In the interim, life went on pretty much as normal.

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Again, in late 2012, the deadline was rolled back, in part because only 13 states were in compliance.

Left unsaid was that roughly half the states were in active opposition.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

Even at this point, 12 years after the original Congressional action, only 25 states are in full compliance with the law.

Four states - Maine, Minnesota, Missouri and Montana - are out of compliance at present.

Pennsylvania and the other states in yellow on the map above, are now safely under compliance extensions for the near-term future.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

With real problems on the horizon, real life was at stake

Finally, a new set of enforcement deadlines, starting with threats to stop taking driver's licenses as proper identification at federal facilities as early as June 6 in those states that hadn't gone so far as to develop a plan to comply, forced lawmakers here to take another look.

As lawmakers noted this week, no one really wanted to be responsible for preventing families from welcoming home soldiers returning from overseas deployment, or contract employees being barred from getting to a job site.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

A compromise is hatched; a crisis averted

A tolerable compromise was found in a two-tiered system, which provides Real ID-compliant cards to those who need or want them, but also allows people who don't the option to get a standard-issues driver's license that will likely cost a few dollars less.

Prime sponsor Sen. Kim Ward, R-Westmoreland County, shown above, urged her colleagues to pass the bill, saying it's time to meet the federal government - which has relaxed some requirements over the last decade - halfway.

House State Government Committee Chair Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler County, insisted on a language that would leave residents in charge of their own decision, and that attached new costs to the new product.

The House and Senate both overwhelmingly passed the compliance bill this week.

Because Pennsylvania has finally taken that step, federal Homeland Security is expected to delay enforcement of the Real ID rules here until at least 2020 now.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

You'll have a lifestyle decision to make

The new system - expected to take 18 to 24 months to implement here - will force Pennsylvanians to make what really amounts to a lifestyle decision.

Get the Real ID card, and you will be able to travel on commercial airlines and enter federal facilities much like you do today.

Without it, Pennsylvania residents will need an alternative, secure form of identification - like a valid passport or a military ID card - to gain admittance to all federal facilities, military bases and nuclear power plants, and, eventually, to board a jet.

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If however- you already have a valid passport or military ID - you might see the Real ID card as unnecessary.

Some people may also believe that they are only ever going to travel by ground, and have no expectation of needing to go onto a military base or federal courthouse.

But if you don't have a passport or never served in the military, this is worth careful consideration, especially for those who live near military bases where a wedding, school banquet or some other quasi-public function might be taking place.

It might be worth the few extra bucks up front.

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What exactly is wrong with Pennsylvania's process now?

Pennsylvania falls short of the mark now for these reasons:

The state doesn't put a Homeland Security-approved security markings on our driver's licenses.

It doesn't require "in person re-issuance" of a license or other formal identification card when there is any material change in personal identifiable information since the prior card was issued.

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What will it take to get the Real ID?

You might want to start looking for your birth certificate.

In states where it has already been implemented, applicants are required to provide: A photo ID, documentation of date of birth, proof of social security number or verification of ineligibility, and name and principal residence.

States must also require residents to show whether they are a citizen or proof that they are here legally. In some cases, residents would receive temporary IDs for the time they are approved to stay in the U.S.

What we'll learn more about as the plan unfolds is whether all of those documents will required of all licensees, or just those applying for first-time licenses.

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Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com

How much will this high-test ID cost?

PennDOT was not able to provide any direct cost information this week.

But the House Appropriations has arrived at some very preliminary ballpark estimates, based on the experiences of six states that are already complying with the law.

The estimate is that implementation could cost Pennsylvania about $27.8 million through the first two years. Since PennDOT estimates about 2.5 million Pennsylvanians will opt for Real ID cards, a user-fee system as envisioned by the state law would cost applicants here approximately $11.13 per ID, over and above regular license fees.