Citizen Patriots Summarize Real ID Act Signed Into Law by Governor Sanford

Written by Press Release

Jun 20, 2007 at 12:00 AM

State Lawmakers Protect South Carolinians' Freedom, Liberty and Privacy in The Face of An Unconstitutional Federal Law Governor Mark Sanford stands with S.449 Supporters. New Ellenton, S.C. - June 17, 2007 - On Wednesday, June 13, Governor Sanford signed into state law S. 449, the REAL ID Act. The bill as it was originally worded stated that South Carolina would not participate in the implementation of the Real ID Act that the U.S. Congress enacted "until" certain provisions were met, one of them being that "the federal government pro-vides adequate funding ..." A broad-based group of citizen patriots from Aiken, Anderson, Greenville, Lexington and Spar-tanburg Counties recognized the unconstitutionality of Real ID and knew that no amount of money supplied by the federal government could make up for the stripping away of freedom, liberty and privacy that Real ID would impose. Therefore, they worked to strengthen the legislation. In its final form, the REAL ID Act succinctly states, "The State shall not participate in the implementation of the federal REAL ID Act." The Aiken County Taxpayers Association is the only taxpayers group in the state that actively opposed Real ID on the state level. State Representatives Davenport, Haskins, Bedingfield, G. R. Smith, Ceips, Duncan, Littlejohn, Witherspoon, Agnew, Brantley, Chellis, Frye, Kelly, M.A. Pitts, Taylor, Young, Funderburk and Mulvaney all sponsored H. 3989, a Concurrent Resolution against the Real ID of 2005, "to memorialize Congress to repeal or decline implementation of the 'Real ID Act of 2005' and to oppose the creation of a federal national identification card." The difference between the bill (S. 449) and the resolution (H. 3989) is that the former carries the weight of law whereas the latter expresses the sentiment of the members of the South Carolina General Assembly.