The day after the the "State of Independence Rally" held on March 16th in support of Rep. Sam Rohrer's state sovereignty resolution, HR 95, Mr. Rohrer joined a bipartisan group of state lawmakers at a morning news conference in the media center at the PA State Capitol Building to unveil a package of legislation aimed at protecting Pennsylvanians’ personal privacy rights. Rohrer said he planned to introduce a package of bills in the PA House, and his colleagues, Sens. Mike Folmer (R-48), Shirley Kitchen (D-3) and John Wozniak (D-35), would introduce sister legislation in the PA Senate to combat intrusions by the federal government on the personal rights of Pennsylvania residents via implementation of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005 (recommended and touted by the 911 Commission as a counter-terrorism measure) by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) without the authorization of the PA legislature. Objections to the REAL ID Act have been raised on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment which guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures" and Pennsylvania statuatory law requiring a specific exemption in order to collect such personal information (as mandated by the REAL ID Act) unless one is suspected, through probable cause, of having committed a crime. Additionally, the Fourth Amendment states that "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmtion, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized". Rohrer addressed the fact that Secretary for the Depatment of Homeland Security (DHS) Janet Neapolitano is considering dropping REAL ID in favor of the (RFID-spychipped!) "enhanced drivers license". (For more detailed info on REAL ID and it's implementation in PA see my SUPPLEMENT at the end of this post)

The "Privacy Package" of Legislation includes:

~REAL ID and Biometrics and Economic Privacy Act SB 621, an Act relating to compliance with the Federal REAL ID Act of 2005 and other laws involving biometric and economic privacy, sponsored by Sen. Folmer.

~Identification Card Electronic Swiping Act SB 622, Sen. Wozniak's proposal to restrict personal information that can be made available for marketing or other purposes beyond law via the electronic swiping of a PA driver's license or identification card.

~Right to Data Privacy Act SB 623, Sen. Kitchen's proposal to prohibit government bodies from capturing or releasing personal biometric information without a person's informed consent and to prohibit government from denying anyone a right, license, or privilege for not allowing government to capture and use their biometric data.

All three bills were referred to the SENATE COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE on March 19.

On May 13th the Committee held hearing on SB's 621 and 623. Senators Folmer, Kitchen, and David Argall (R-29) were in attendance and the speakers included Molly Ramsdell, the Senior Policy Director, State-Federal Relations Division, National Conference of State Legislatures; Mark Lerner, from Stop Real ID Coalition; Andy Hoover, Legislative Director, ACLU Pennsylvania; and PennDOT’s Deputy Secretary for Safety Administration, Kurt Myers.

Molly Ramsdell provided a slide presentation on the history of Real ID and explained that 12 states have already passed laws to prohibit implementation of Real ID in their states. Many other states have passed resolutions objecting to Real ID. She addressed the fact that the U.S. Congress is looking at legislation to possibly repeal the Real ID Act of 2005 and replace it with the Providing for Additional Security in States Identification Act (PASS ID Act). There would likely be a “rule making process” where interested parties would sit at the table to provide input. However, the final regulations would likely be the same as Real ID with a few minor changes, which would likely come out of the “rule making process.” The National Conference of State Legislatures does not support implementing the Real ID Act of 2005.

Mark Lerner spoke on the issue of “biometrics”, stating that “a biometric is a measurable, physical characteristic or personal behavioral trait used to recognize the identity, or verify the claimed identity, of an enrollee” and “ the digital facial image or picture is a biometric sample by definition, if the digital facial image can be converted to biometric data.” He stated that when we depend on biometrics, we are creating a recipe for disaster which will lead to government abuse of power and mentioned the abuse of power by government over many years. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has spent millions of dollars on digital CCTV/surveillance technology. FaceEXPLORER software, which is currently being used by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) to convert digital facial images of PA residents to biometric images (without the residents' informed consent!) for newly issued and renewed state drivers licenses/ID cards, is not 100% accurate.

Mark addressed the issue that the FBI wants to create the world’s largest biometric database and the REAL ID Act, the Transportation Workers Identification Credential, the E-Passport, the Enhanced Driver’s License, passport cards, and other identification documents enroll Americans into a global biometric identification system. He discussed the issue that if birth certificates are easily forged, the whole system is suspect. Not only does someone not really know who someone is, the FaceEXPLORER software, if set with minimal security procedures in place, will not find everyone looking similar to the individual having a picture taken. If the system brings up all similar pictures with the same biometric number, then there would be long lines at PennDOT just to get a picture taken.

This follows last Tuesday’s news release by PA Attorney General Corbett who announced a grand jury report following a series of fake drivers’ licenses arrests. In the news release Corbette said, “It is egregious for PennDOT officials to assume that they are addressing a problem, when in reality they are only scraping the surface. Performing a facial recognition check and then issuing a license through the email to persons who likely have been issued fraudulent identification in the past does nothing more than compound an already troubling problem.”

Mark also addressed the issue of DHS Secretary Napolitano naming the AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) as the backbone or hub in the final rules. Since the AAMVA is an international organization, our data would travel over their network. He connected the dots between the AAMVA’s Driver License Agreement, NAFTA, Real ID, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative and its Enhance Driver’s License. All these occurred in the same time period and are all interconnected.

Mark stated that "the National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislators are negotiating with DHS and members of Congress on legislation that would repeal the Real ID Act. I assure you of one thing – Whatever replaces Real ID will include a mandate for the collection of facial biometric samples.” (This is why Senator Kitchen’s bill is so important) He concluded by addressing the religious freedoms that REAL ID abuses and told the panel that government must follow the Constitution. Molly Ramsdell was asked if the religious issues were being discussed in Washington DC. She indicated that they were, but was unsure if religious liberties would be included in the final results.

Andy Hoover spoke next and addressed many of the same issues. He stated, “The REAL ID Act is an unprecedented invasion of the privacy of all Americans and provides numerous constitutional entanglements.” He addressed that even though each state may manage their own databases, the fact that databases of all the states are linked together via a network, actually makes them one giant database and stressed that the REAL ID Act increases the likelihood of identity theft by criminals and that Pennsylvanians would spend hundreds of millions of dollars implementing the Act's mandates.

He also addressed the religious objections to having one’s picture taken. Individuals are forced to make the tough decision to follow their faith or give in to the demands of the state. He stated, “At risk in this choice are basic rights to freedom of religious expression and the right to due process and equal protection. In its final regulations, DHS ignored this problem.” Addressing government abuse with respect to collecting biometric data he cited the fact that via intimidation, law enforcement officials throughout the US have collected mass DNA samples since 2005 in an effort to solve a crime. Out of 18 mass DNA collections nationwide, only one resulted in an arrest. The Pennsylvania ACLU supports ending Real ID and supports Senator Kitchen’s bill to stop collection of biometric data without the individual’s consent.

Finally, Mr. Myers from PennDOT addressed the committee. He insists that PennDOT is not implementing REAL ID and that FaceEXPLORER is just a tool. He also agreed with Mark Lerner that it’s not all that reliable either.

He stated that PennDOT estimates the cost to implement REAL ID to be between $120 and $140 million. Yearly costs would amount to between $40 and $50 million, and the cost of the driver’s license could increase between $13 and $38, in addition to the current $28 fee. Pennsylvania has received a $1.2 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security, and PennDOT has applied for FY2009 Driver’s License Security Grant Program.

Mr. Myers reported that, “PennDOT … is now actively participating in the review of potential draft legislation … being referred to as the Providing for Additional Security in States’ Identification Act. The PASS ID act is intended to replace the REAL ID Act of 2005.” (Evidently PennDOT’s underlying concern is the cost of implementation and maintenance)

Even though PennDOT's actions are a major concern to Attorney General Corbett's grand jury, Myers took credit for providing information to the grand jury. He stated “…the enactment of SB 621 or SB 623 would take some valuable tools away from PennDOT and law enforcement.”

The meeting ended with a question and answer period.

Senator Kitchen asked several presenters how secure the data is in the database and who all had access to the data. It appears that many agencies have access to the data including agencies outside of Pennsylvania.

Senator Folmer addressed the religious issues and told Kurt Myers that he'd like to meet with him at a future time to discuss the whole issue of individual rights and the constitution.

Mark Lerner added some additional comments with concern to where all this is leading. Are we ready for the one shoe fits all concepts? Should a driver’s license or ID card become our national ID card? Should our driver’s license become our credit or debit card? Must we present our driver’s license to travel, buy or sell products or services? Should the driver’s license be the pointer to our medical records, our education records? Should our driver’s license identify our race, political affiliation, or anything else about us? And should all this information be stored in a database created by PennDOT. Whatever happened to the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution or Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution?

No vote was taken by the Committee on either bill. Last week activists distributed copies of an editorial in Harrisburg's The
Patriot News supporting SB 621 to the members of the PA House of Representatives.

Action to Take:

**Please continue lobbying the members of the SENATE COMMUNICATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE to bring these bills up for a vote to move them out of committee and onto the floor for consideration of the full Senate. (We don't need to lobby Sen. Folmer re. SB 621 and Sen. Wozniak re. SB 622, for they are the primary sponsors of those bills) Continue calling, emailing, faxing, sending letters, visiting them in their Harrisburg or district home offices.

**Also, please continue to strongly urge your PA senator to sign on as co-sponsor of the bill. They can sign on at any time during the bills' progress through the legislative process. If they already have, thank them and strongly urge their continued support as long as the bills' language is not weakened. You can find out if your senator is a cosponsor of each bill by clicking the links for them that I've provided above**

In the meantime, Rep. Rohrer has introduced his anti-REAL ID bill in the PA House. It is essentially the same as Sen. Folmer's SB 621. It is:

~House Bill 1443 an Act prohibiting the Commonwealth from participation in the Federal REAL ID Act of 2005 and other related laws; and providing for the authority of the Governor and Attorney General to file certain legal challenges.

It currently has 56 co-sponsors and was referred to the HOUSE INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE on May 5th.

We can most likely expect the same antics over it as last session's anti-REAL ID bill by the Committee (Or, if/when the Senate bill(s) pass over to the House), specifically by the Committee's Chair Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, who stonewalled a Committee vote on it forever and then, when pressure was applied, introduced and got a vote on his own REAL ID bill, which contained greatly weakened anti-biometrics language, an extremely important element of the original bill.

Action to Take:

**Please strongly urge your to PA representative to sign on as cosponsor of HB 1443. (NOTE: If you live on a House district border, I caution you against using the PA General Assembly "Find Your Legislator" link that I provided above for finding your PA senator. I live on a border and that link mistakenly says I'm in a different district from the one I actually live in. I informed their website people about it a few months ago, but it's still wrong). They can sign on at any time during the bill's progress through the legislative process. If they already have, thank them and strongly urge their continued support as long as the bill's language is not weakened. You can find out if your representative is a cosponsor of HB 1443 by clicking the link for it that I've also provided above**

**Pressure also needs to be applied to specific folks at the DISTRICT level. If possible, please contact Jim Compton comptonjr@comcast.net and share with him where you live (county/legislative district) so we can get targeted material produced & distributed in key locations when pressure-point precision is needed.


THANK YOU!!

And thanks to Jim Compton, Restore The Republic Pennsylvania Coordinator and lead Harrisburg activist for these bill, for much of this information.

SUPPLEMENT, PART 1: REAL ID Act of 2005‏

Recommended and touted by the 911 Commission as a counter-terrorism measure, the U.S. Congress, with no customary hearings and debates, attached the REAL ID Act to an unrelated emergency-spending bill to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and tsunami relief. It was passed on May 10, 2005.

Will do absolutely nothing to deter terrorist attacks on U.S. soil until our borders, coastlines and ports are secured. Will only punish law-abiding American citizens.

Requires the federal takeover of state drivers' licenses and state identification cards.

Forces the states to adopt a uniform driver's license or state ID card capable of tying into a national database, thus creating a national identification card.

Forces the states to link their databases of individual driver information both nationally, and eventually internationally, under the crafted by Departments of "Driver License Agreement" Motor Vehicles lobbyists and ratified by 48 states in 2000.

At a minimum, a REAL ID must include an individual's full legal name, date of birth, residential address, Social Security Number(SSN), signature, physical and possibly other characteristics, a digital facial facial photogragh and machine-readable technology.

Grants the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, along with the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, open-ended authority to require biometric information, Radio Frequency Identification(RFID)chips and other mandates.

Biometric information (or data) is defined as all information relating to a biological characteristic of an individual that makes him or her unique from any other individual.

Biometric data includes fingerprints, faceprints, retinal scan, iris recognition, DNA, hand geometry, voice recognition and handwriting characteristics. Note: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation(PennDOT) is converting, and has already coverted, the (digital?) facial photos of residents applying for or renewing driver's licenses and state ID's into biometric images without their informed consent. In fact PennDOT, with the full knowledge of Gov. Rendall, has already spent $20million of taxpayers' money implementing 11 of the 18 U.S. Department of Homeland Security(DHS) REAL ID mandates despite the fact that the Pennsylvania legislature has not yet accepted the federal requirements for REAL ID, and PennDOT's contract with Viisage Technology to design and implement the program, the costs associated with it and the data compiled under it have not been closely examined to ensure that PennDOT is not usurping the legslature's powers.

The DHS plans to enroll the United States into a single global identification system constructed on biometric data and the global sharing of highly sensitive personal information about American citizens, collected by governments and corporations.

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators(AAMVA) is a driving force behind and vital link in the REAL ID effort via its network and access to data collected at DMV and DOT centers located in the various states (see "Diver License Agreement" above). The AAMVA is a nongovernmental, tax-exempt, nonprofit, international organization developing model programs in motor vehicle administration, law enforcement and highway safety, and acts as the international spokesman for these interests.

The AAMVA provides driver and vehicle data to third-party service providers through the "Driver and Vehicle Data Online Access", an electronic means for jurisdictions to sell their records using these approved third-party service providers, thus allowing expanded opportunity for identity theft especially when these records are stored together in multiple locations

The AAMVA is working to standardize all traffic laws in the U.S. and Canada, and eventually Mexico.

REAL ID is a key lynch-pin in the U.S. government's "Security and Prosperity Partnership"(SPP) agreement with Mexico and Canada, a non-legislative effort to form a North American version of the European Union called the North American Union(NAU), thus violating U.S. sovereignty. The U.S. government could easily establish an agreement with Mexico and Canada to provide equal and non-supervised access to American citizens' most confidential information.

Federal law allows any federal, state or local agency to access the information collected and stored under REAL ID.
The REAL ID Act offers absolutely no controls on what confidential data can be collected from driver's licenses/state ID's, where and how long it can be stored, and who is authorized to access the data for unknown purposes which could include obtaining, sharing, trading or selling that data.

There are no limits on what happens to the database of sensitive information on Americans once it leaves the U.S., which opens the door for corrupt foreign goverment officials to sell or give this information to human traffickers or even terrorists.

With a standardized machine-readable zone, REAL ID will make it easier for police officers, retail clerks and unscrupulous credit card companies and telemarketers to access Americans' most personal information.

The REAL ID Act could overrule any state controls over what type of data can be included or excluded from state driver's licenses/ID cards, thus violating states' rights and sovereignty.

Biometric faceprints, such as those now being used by PennDOT, can be easily linked into surveillance camera networks . Using a biometric image database, a closed captioned TV operator could click on an individual's face, easliy convert it to a biometric image, compare that image with those in the database, and thus identify that individual. This could occur at an airport, a train station, on the street and just about anywhere surveillance cameras are present. Unfortuntately, none of these systems is foolproof, and one individual could be misidentified as another who is suspected of having committed a crime and be arrested and booked for that crime.

With the inclusion of an RFID chip in the cards, the federal government would have unchecked authority to track our whereabouts any time, any place. With interlinked databases, officials in Mexico, Canada and eventually the world over could do the same.

While the REAL ID program is considered voluntary, and states technically are not forced to accept the federal standards, any state that refuses to comply will essentially make non-persons out of its citizens. Eventually, anyone not possessing a REAL ID compliant driver's license/ID card will be prohibited from accessing federal facilities/buildings, obtaining government services such as Social Security benefits, visiting a national park, obtaining a job or boarding a federally regulated aircraft.

As REAL ID is viewed as the primary means to inhibit terrorism, it is highly possible that it will be required tender for anyone who wants to buy, sell or otherwise participate in American society or the economy.

The REAL ID Act redefines "terrorism" in broad new terms that could well include members of firearms rights and anti-abortion groups, or other such groups as determined by who is in power at the time. There are no prohibitions against including such information in the database as that concerning an individual's past exercise of his or her First Amendment rights or about his or her appearance on a registry of firearms owners.

Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution states that we have a Republic as our form of government and the Constitution is our rule book. The Constitution authorizes the federal government to make seven certain mandates upon the states of the Union and implementation of a national identification card is not one of them.

The REAL ID Act interferes substantially with legitimate privacy rights of law-abiding citizens. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution ensures the right for every American citizen 'to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures (including of personal information)...and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause (of having committed a crime), supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized".

The REAL ID Act is likely to conflict with any type of privacy, free speech, religious and other fundamental personal liberty protections guaranteed in each state's constitution. Pennsylvania statuatory law requires a specific exemption in order to take personal information (fingerprints, faceprints, DNA, etc., i.e. biometric information). Otherwise this can only be done if one is suspected of having committed a crime. Note: Neither PennDOT nor Viisage Technology sought or possess such exemption.

Under an unauthorized $45.5million two-year contract with PennDOT, Viisage Technology(Viisage) is creating facial recognition templates from PA driver's license/state ID photos through their FaceExplorer (biometric) software. Initiated under the guise of eliminating duplicate licenses, the personal biometric information of new and renewing driver's license and state ID card applicants is already being stored in a database updated by Viisage. This was all being done without the informed consent of said applicants. I other words, they were not being told by DMV workers that any of this was being done and were not being asked for their permission to do so. However, only after it was brought to PennDOT's attention by PA activists last summmer that it has no statuatory or constitutional authority to take faceprints of citizens did it begin informing applicants that they are checking records to see if an individual has more than one license under different names. Nonetheless, they had imported all the photos already in their database into biometric images without the consent of the remaining citizenry.

Viisage is owned by L-1 Identity Solutions which is currently doing business with the communist regime of China to provide it with High Definition Closed Captioned TV face-scanning solutions. Read the Rolling Stone article "China's All-Seeing Eye :With the help of U.S. defense contractors, China is building the prototype for a high-tech police state. It is ready for export."

The lead contact in the PennDOT/L-1 contract is an engineer in Pakistan. Why is DHS not investigating this and why are our state officials not demanding it do so?

A contract extension signed some time ago provides for this personal information on PA residents to be stored by L-1 outside our state's boundaries.

REAL ID Director Darrell Williams stated on local TV that this information will be entered into "federal databases".

George Tenet, Director of the CIA pre, during, and post-911 was a board member of L-1 until late 2008 or the beginning of 2009 along with Admiral James Loy, retired from Department of Homeland Security in 2002, and who also served in the Department of Transportation as Deputy Under Secretary for Security and Chief Operating Officer of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). What are these to people doing in business with a Pakistani engineer and the communist regime of China gathering biometric data of citizens around the globe let alone right here at home in the commonwealth of PA?

PennDOT does not screen requests for information and mass requests for such are not recorded.This move by PennDOT is not simply about identifying duplicate license holders. It's clearly about setting up a control grid of PA and ultimately U.S. citizens and ensuring the profit of those who are providing the "solution" to a manufactured problem.

Supplement, PART 2: A Very Brief History of PA Anti-REAL ID Legislation

HB 1351 was the original comprehensive anti-REAL ID PA House bill introduced by Rep. Sam Rohrer in 2007. A handful of activists worked very hard to lobby their representatives to co-sponsor HB 1351 before it went to to the House floor for vote. They managed to get 96 co-sponsors. Unfortunately, Rep.W.Curtis Thomas, Chairman of the House Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, sat on 1351 for months refusing to call a vote to move it out of this committee and onto the House floor. When finally pressured by activists to do so, Thomas instead introduced HB 2537, his own gutted version of 1351, which removed all references to collecting, importing and storing biometric information by PennDOT and Viisage. HB 2537 was voted out of committee and onto the House floor, where Rep. Rohrer attempted to restore the references to biometrics via Amendments, but the Amendments were rejected and the bill eventually died in committee at the end of last session.

SB 1220, introduced by Sen. Mike Folmer also in 2007, contained even stricter anti-REAL ID language than HB1351 and included references to biometrics. It too died in committee.