Today, the House of Representatives took up legislation on Real ID Implementation. Senate File 3589 was the bill that was actually placed before us. The Senate had passed their bill and it seemed to be a workable bill that addressed some of the challenges this legislation has. One of which is heeding the timeframe that the agency charged with the implementation says is realistic.
However, Representative Smith, the author of the bill had an amendment to insert the House language into the bill and the House Majority supported him. The House language had several controversial and unnecessary components. In addition, there were some additional amendments added. I voted for the bill, because it had a two-tiered system and it will mean the bill will move on to a conference committee. The two-tiered system means that people who are uncomfortable with the Real ID card have another option they can use. So long has people can choose, it makes no sense to bog the bill down with unnecessary items. Hopefully, the conference committee will come up with a compromise that will enable us to get the job done. We need to be finished by Sunday evening.