Arizonans will soon need a new ID to fly. As soon as next year, people travelling with only an Arizona driver’s license could be barred from getting on their flights.
To head off that possibility, Governor Doug Ducey has signed a law that allows the state to eventually issue the new federally compliant id, known as the REAL ID.
Following the September 11 attacks, the U.S. Congress passed a law requiring states to issue this new ID, which meets certain federal security requirements. So far, most states have made steps toward issuing these ids — but not Arizona. Until now, state law prohibited that.
As a result, Ryan Harding with the Department of Transportation said they still are not sure how a REAL ID will differ from a standard driver’s license.
“This new law has now been signed, but prior to that we were prevented from even working with the Department of Homeland Security to find out exactly what was needed," said Harding.
In fact, the new law still requires Arizona to ask the federal government for an exemption first. That will probably be denied, according to Harding, and only then will Arizona go ahead with the program.
