Raymond Scheppach, the NGA executive director and Linda Lewis, the AAMVA president and CEO, signed the letter on behalf of their respective associations. The two noted that while governors and motor vehicle administrators share lawmakers concerns, they believe the "Driver's Licenses and Personal Identification Cards" provision in the Intelligence Reform Act of 2004 already "provides a workable framework for developing meaningful standards to increase reliability and security of driver's license and ID cards."
Specifically, the letter indicates NGA and AAMVA's opposition to two bills currently circulating in the U.S. House of Representatives, H.R. 368 and Title II of H.R. 418. Calling provisions of both bills, "a massive unfunded mandate," the letter says they would unduly impose technological standards and burdensome verification procedures on states given the tremendous costs associated with implementing new standards and verification procedures for the roughly 220 million state-issued driver's licenses.
The framework implemented from the intelligence reform bill encourages input from governors and state DMV officials during the regulatory process, the letter said. Additionally, it protects existing state eligibility criteria and retains the necessary flexibility needed to incorporate best practices from around the states. NGA officials believe it is important to allow the current framework an opportunity to work so meaningful national standards can be developed.
