Inviting ID fraud

Ritter should reject weakening of identification standards

Friday, May 4, 2007

Gov. Bill Ritter has the chance to prevent Colorado from retreating in the battle against identity theft and fraud: He should veto House Bill 1313.

The bill was sold as a way to clarify the requirements Coloradans must satisfy before they obtain official identity documents from the state. Confusion has reigned in part because of draconian implementation of a law passed last summer that was meant to bar the access of illegal immigrants to state services.

Last year's law - or at least its interpretation by a few state and local agencies - may have gone too far. But this year's legislative reaction swings the pendulum back too far in the other direction.

To be sure, HB 1313 would eliminate some ambiguities in the current law. But it would also gravely weaken the standards for obtaining state IDs. This could invite rampant identity fraud.

It could also prevent Colorado from complying with the federal REAL ID law, passed as a response to 9/11. REAL ID requires applicants for driver's licenses to show proof of their current residence; HB 1313 does not.

Unless Ritter vetoes this bill, or a future legislature toughens the law, Coloradans who carry driver's licenses and no other identity documents eventually might not, for instance, be able to board commercial airliners. That particular REAL ID mandate doesn't kick in until 2013, but the state should be aligning its laws now with such requirements.

As introduced, HB 1313 required applicants for a driver's license to show that they are old enough to drive, that they are legal residents of the United States, and that they are who they say they are. Acceptable documents include valid passports, current driver's licenses from other states that issue them only to citizens or lawful residents, birth certificates and citizenship documents.

That was a good start, but the bill still needed an amendment requiring applicants to produce a second document. Without that, a licensed driver from, say, Arizona could get a Colorado license by presenting only a passport or birth certificate; it was not necessary to surrender the other driver's license. That loophole would allow people to obtain a Colorado license while holding active licenses in other states.

Unfortunately, in amending HB 1313, lawmakers weakened it further. Although the bill would force some applicants to present two documents before getting a Colorado driver's license, those documents include, as Secretary of State Mike Coffman points out, expired out-of-state licenses, expired military IDs that lack photos, and affidavits purportedly signed by state employees - in other words, documents that may not be valid or that could be forged or faked.

This is hardly a step up for security.

The current legislature squandered an opportunity to mend uncertainties in state ID laws. Gov. Ritter would do well to veto this bill, and in his message spell out the common- sense steps lawmakers should take to make official identity documents more secure, not less.