The PA Republican Assembly supports this resolution and urges it's members in every corner of the state to assist by contacting legislators and urging their support for this amendment which will slow the joggernaut approaching to continue to eat away at our remaining Constitutional freedoms - Andy Dlinn, Chairman, PA GOP Assembly
 
  
 
PROPOSED AMENDMENT
 
 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
 
A RESOLUTION DECLINING TO IMPLEMENT THE REAL ID ACT OF 2005 AND OPPOSING THE CREATION OF A FEDERAL NATIONAL IDENTIFICATION CARD IN THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
 
Whereas, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recognizes the Constitution of the United States of America as our most fundamental charter of Liberty and the Bill of Rights as affirming the fundamental and inalienable rights of Americans, including freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures and freedom of privacy; and
 
Whereas, that said Constitution of the United States grants to the federal government the ability to make only seven mandates upon these States of the Union, and that these may be found at Article I § 8 (apportioned number of troops for military needs), Article I § 9 (an apportioned quota of money to balance the budget in times of deficit), Article VI (an oath of office to support the Constitution), Article IV § 1 (full faith and credit for the laws of other states), Article IV § 2 (extradition of fugitives), Article IV § 4 (republican form of government), and that all qualifying citizens have the right to vote (15th, 19th & 24th Amendments), and the demands such as are contained in the federal REAL ID ACT OF 2005 (Division B of Public Law 109-13 signed by President George W. Bush on May 11, 2005) are not to be found among these limited mandates; and
 
Whereas, the people of the states, having delegated to Congress by means of the Constitution for the United States, a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and by one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," that the act of Congress, passed on the 10th day of February, 2005, and which instituted "The Real I.D. Act of 2005" is altogether void, and of no force; and 
 
Whereas, it is unconscionable for this State to submit to any act of Congress which exceeds the limited grants of power contained in said Constitution, and even more particularly so when such Act would infringe upon the protected rights of this State and her people; and 
 
Whereas, the Real ID act, by purporting to create a national system of identification that connects banking, commerce, federal services, and many other necessities of life to the demand for this form of identification is viewed by numerous Americans of diverse Judeo-Christian faiths as being diametrically opposed to their beliefs in scripture and their doctrines, there exists the very real possibility for massive civil and religious rebellion, both openly and in secret, to the demand of the federal government for compliance to this Act; and
 
Whereas, no Act of Congress should infringe upon the rights of conscience for our pious and faithful citizens; and
 
Whereas, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania denounces terrorism in all its forms and condemns all acts of terrorism by any entity, foreign or domestic, wherever the acts of terrorism occur; and
 
Whereas, any security measures designed to protect U.S. citizens from acts of terrorism shall be designed to enhance the safety of said citizens without infringing upon Constitutionally protected rights and liberties of U.S. citizens and without being enacted outside the limited grants of powers on such legislative bodies; and 
 
Whereas, said REAL ID ACT purports to create a federal national identification card by mandating federal standards, to be approved by the federal Department of Homeland Security, for state driver's licenses and other identification cards and requiring states to share their motor vehicle databases, with no Constitutional authority existing for the Federal Government to do the same ; and
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT purports to mandate the documents that states must require to issue or renew state driver's licenses and purports to require states to place uniform information on every driver's licenses in a standard, machine-readable format; and 
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT prohibits federal agencies, federally regulated commercial airlines, and federally regulated private banks from accepting a driver's license or other identification card issued by a state that is not in full compliance with the ACT; and
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT would, if implemented by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, prove a very costly long-term endeavor at the expense of the people of our good State, and their own liberties; and 
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT purports to require the creation of a massive public sector database containing information on every U.S. citizen that is accessible to all motor vehicle employees and law enforcement officers nationwide, and that can be used to gather and manage information on U.S. citizens; and that this is not the Constitutionally sanctioned business or responsibility of government at federal or state levels; and
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT enables the creation of additional massive private sector databases, combining both transactional information and driver's license information gained from scanning the machine-readable information contained on every driver's license converted to a REAL ID; and
 
Whereas, these public and private databases are likely to contain numerous errors and accidental false information, creating significant hardship for Americans attempting to verify their identities in order to renew their driver's licenses, board commercial airplanes, open accounts with federally regulated private banks, or perform any of the other numerous functions required to live a normal life in these United States today; and
 
Whereas, the Federal Trade Commission has estimated that approximately ten million (10,000,000) U.S. citizens are victims of identity theft annually, and because identity thieves are increasingly targeting motor vehicle departments, the REAL ID ACT will enable the crime of identity theft by making the personal information of all U.S. citizens, including signature, social security numbers, and date of birth, accessible from tens of thousands of locations; and 
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT requires a driver's license to contain a person's physical home address and makes no exception for individuals without one, or those in potential danger, including police officers, judges (including federal judges), undercover law enforcement personnel; and including victims of stalking or other forms of criminal harassment; and
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT contains onerous record verification and retention provisions that place unreasonable burdens both on motor vehicle division personnel and on third parties required to locate and verify records; and 
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT will place enormous burdens on law-abiding citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania seeking new (or renewal of) driver's licenses including increased document requests and waiting periods, higher costs, longer lines, return trips, etc.; and
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT will place state motor vehicle staff on the front lines of immigration enforcement by forcing state employees to determine federal citizenship and immigration status, excessively burdening both foreign-born applicants and motor vehicle staff; 
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT passed as Division B of the larger Appropriations bill without sufficient deliberation on the floors of the federal Senate and House of Representatives, and did not receive a hearing by any Congressional committee or a vote solely on its own merits by both Houses of Congress; and was passed despite opposition from more than six hundred organizations; and
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT eliminates a process of negotiated rulemaking initiated under the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which had convened federal, state, and local policymakers, privacy advocates and industry experts to solve the problem of misuse of identity documents; and 
 
Whereas, the REAL ID ACT provides no new security benefits in the proposed form of identification. Moreover, because individual state identification measures comprise 50 distinct types of identification, this new proposal diminishes to a single type, while simultaneously increasing the amount of personal information contained within it, leaving it even more venerable to insider fraud, identification theft, counterfeit documentation, and database failure; and
 
Whereas, the Federal government has intimated the potential loss of funding to any state refusing to comply with the Real ID Act, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby serves notice that it will consider such threats as indicative of the Federal Government's general disregard for the liberties of the people of our State, and the open rebellion of the Federal Government against the Constitution generally; and
 
Whereas, it has been also intimated that the governments of Mexico and Canada would be granted access to the databases created as a result of the partnerships of our respective national governments under international treaties, thereby placing the personal information of our citizens at even greater risk of fraud, theft or for other unauthorized and potentially deleterious uses.
 
THEREFORE, BE IT NOW RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF Pennsylvania that it support the Federal Government of the United States of America in its campaign against terrorists, and specifically to apprehend and bring to justice any persons, foreign or domestic, who were involved in the destructive acts which occurred on September 11, 2001, yet while affirming the commitment of the same not to wage this campaign at the expense of essential Constitutional rights and liberties of law-abiding U.S. citizens; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to decline to implement the REAL ID ACT as such legislation exceeds the Constitutionally limited power of the Congress to place mandates upon this and our sister States; as well it violates the rights and liberties enumerated under and protected under the Constitutions of the United States of America or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as well it specifically attacks at matters of conscience held by those who have and hold to Biblical models of faith; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the position of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that the REAL ID ACT was, in fact, an action in excess of the limited authority granted to the Congress by the said Constitution to legislate; therefore, said ACT is ultra vires and altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to enact any legislation pertaining to a Federal Identification system can, in no wise, be enacted by the Congress Assembled unless an Amendment to the federal Constitution be passed by the States and the people to authorize it; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that it is the policy of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that no ultra vires Acts of Congress shall be enforced or implemented within this State; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, therefore, that the Pennsylvania General Assembly neither enact legislation nor authorize any appropriations from any source, state or federal, to further the implementation of the REAL ID ACT in Pennsylvania; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Pennsylvania General Assembly urges support for any federal measure that once enacted repeals the REAL ID ACT; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania stands with our Sister States of Maine, Montana, South Carolina, New Hampshire and other states where state legislation declining to implement the REAL ID ACT or participate in a federal national identification system has recently been enacted; and that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania calls upon our other Sister States to pass similar measures declining to implement the Real ID; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this Resolution be transmitted to President George W. Bush, United States Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Governor Edward Rendell, United States Senators Robert Casey and Arlen Specter, along with our State Congressional delegation; and
 
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Senators from this Commonwealth are hereby notified that our General Assembly concurs in directing them to introduce a bill in the United States Senate to repeal the Real ID Act of 2005.

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