Attention Booksellers Traveling to Winter Institute: Is Your State REAL ID Compliant?

Before traveling to Memphis to attend the 2018 Winter Institute, booksellers should make sure that their state is REAL ID compliant and if it is not, check whether it has received an extension from Homeland Security. Not having the proper ID could result in being denied boarding on your flight to or from Memphis. When in doubt, bring a secondary ID, such as a passport or birth certificate, to ensure you can board your plane without any issue.

For more information on the status of specific states, visit the Department of Homeland Security website.

The REAL ID Act establishes minimum security standards for license issuance and production and prohibits federal agencies from accepting for certain purposes driver’s licenses and identification cards from states not meeting the act’s minimum standards. The purposes covered by the act are: accessing federal facilities, entering nuclear power plants, and boarding federally regulated commercial aircraft.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on December 20, 2013, a phased enforcement plan for the REAL ID Act, as passed by Congress, that aims to implement the act in a measured, fair, and responsible way.

According to the Homeland Security website, the REAL ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005, enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the Federal Government “set standards for the issuance of sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses.”