real id

With 2016 just a few weeks away, Arizona identification cards and driver’s licenses are undergoing big changes to meet Federal REAL ID standards, and those that don’t will become much less usable.

Some of the newest and most important updates have to do with license photos.

Due to a new facial recognition software, ID photos must comply with a new facial recognition software that requires clear, high quality photos.

Those who wear eyeglasses everyday will need to go in for an updated, lens-free photo as the new software will not allow facial features to be covered in ID photos. Facial hair and religious items, like hijabs, are still allowed as long as they are worn daily and don’t cover up the eyes, nose or mouth.

This new facial-recognition system will examine photos of those applying for driver’s licenses and ID cards at Motor Vehicle Division offices and alert workers if one of the new photos matches with a photo that already exists in the database. Additionally, Arizonans will now need to get a new license photo every eight years.

This is intended to notify officials if multiple names are being used for one photo, for example, to help detect fraud, identity theft, and more. However, some believe that the new software could be violation of privacy.

The American Civil Liberties Union supports getting rid of the REAL ID, arguing that the new licenses are a “tremendously destructive impact on privacy,” The Phoenix New Times reports.

Although older Arizona licenses with existing ID photos will still be valid forms of identification in several cases, such as for voting, they will not be accepted forms of ID for traveling, even domestically. Those without a REAL ID will need to use a passport or other form of ID to get through airport security. The date for when this transition will take place has yet to be announced.

REAL-IDs are predicted to be available in Arizona in April.

Arizona residents will not be able to fly domestically or enter certain federal buildings with their driver’s licenses if the state doesn’t make changes to comply with federal “REAL ID” requirements by the end of 2015.

Since 9/11, the federal government added 31 extra measures for states to use to produce more secure forms of identification. However, state legislatures are responsible for regulating licenses, and five states including Arizona, Maine, Louisiana, Idaho and New Hampshire chose not to comply with the REAL ID Act standards.

Air travel within the country is the biggest problem thousands of Arizona residents could face in the next year. Without a REAL ID, The Department of Homeland Security would not allow flyers through airport security unless they provided another form of identification such as a valid passport.

Access will also be denied to federal buildings and nuclear power plants without a REAL ID by early 2016.

Opponents in Arizona decided against making state licenses compliant with the new standards because of fears that that the REAL ID would work as a tracking device or as a tactic to make the government extra money.

Although Arizona revamped state licenses in 2013, the new IDs do not comply with certain REAL ID requirements, such as requiring new ID photos every eight years and proof that ID holders are in the country legally.

“Arizona you know how we act, sometimes when we’re told by the federal government we need to do something, we’re kind of like that rebellious teenager. We said no we’re not, so we’ve passed a ban, and we said we’re not going to do it,” said Arizona Senator Bob Worsley.

Worsley’s Arizona Senate Bill 1273 proposes bringing the state’s licenses up to federal standards by giving residents the option to pay $15 for a new, REAL ID.

The bill passed through the Senate and has moved to the House. Worsley said he hopes the bill will make it’s way to Governor Doug Ducey’s by the end of March.