REAL ID ACTION ALERT

Campaign for Liberty and Take Back Kentucky have been working on trying to get legislation to block the implementation of the federal REAL ID Act in Kentucky. We started off with a meeting in Frankfort in September with Mark Lerner from the Constitutional Alliance to help inform us on the issue. The meeting drew a crowd of nearly 60 concerned Kentucky citizens.

On November 20 Mark Lerner, Chris Southworth, John Riley, Richard Lewis, and Norm Davis met for 2 hours with several state legislators over the issue and presented model legislation that could be modified for use in Kentucky to block Real ID implementation.

Members of TBK/C4L led by Chris Southworth have continued to meet with legislators. We’ve provided them with legislation and compelling information about why Real ID should not be implemented in Kentucky. Real ID not only is an unfunded federal mandate on the citizens of Kentucky, but it is also equivalent to a National and even International Identification Card using our state issued driver’s licenses.

We’ve had positive responses from most legislators and we hear most of them say "I could support this". However, NONE so far have stepped forward and offered legislative leadership to sponsor the legislation needed to block Real ID in Kentucky.

What must be done now:

THE DEADLINE FOR A SPONSOR (Legislator) TO ENTER LEGISLATION FOR CONSIDERATION IN THE CURRENT KENTUCKY GENERAL ASSEMBLY IS FEB 6TH!

THE PROBLEM IS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS SET A DEADLINE FOR ALL STATES TO COMPLY WITH THE FEDERAL REAL ID ACT OF DECEMBER 31, 2009

It is critical that this issue is considered in this legislative session!

HERE’S WHAT ACTION WE NEED FROM OUR MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS and please pass this along to anyone you know that may be interested in this important issue;

Call the Legislative Message line in Frankfort (1-800-372-7181).
TTY Message Line 800-896-0305
Tell the operator:

“I want to leave a message for my State Representative and my State Senator and to all Senate and House Leadership members.”

The operator will take your name, address and phone number (which will identify your representatives for those who don’t know who they are).

The operator will then ask what message you would like to leave. Simply say:

“I oppose any implementation of the federal Real ID act using my Kentucky driver’s license or any other method. I want the legislature to act during this legislative session to block Real ID from being implemented in Kentucky.”

THEN DO THE SAME THING NEXT WEEK! Leave them another message saying "Once again, I oppose implementation of Real ID and look for your leadership on this issue."


For those of you that have been already talking to your state representatives and building relationships with them (I hope all of you are doing that! It’s times like this that those personal relationships are very important!) please use this as an opportunity to contact them directly and discuss this issue with them and ask them to please consider sponsoring and supporting this legislation!

The Legislators that have been talked to and given a legislative information packet are as follows:


House of Representatives- The House is controlled by Democrats
(D)Derrick Graham
(D)Carl Rollins
(R)Joe Fischer
(D)Mary Lou Marzian- Sponsored legislation in 2007
(R)Stan Lee
(D)Mike Cherry
(D)Greg Stumbo- New Speaker of the House
(R)Kevin Bratcher
(D)Hubert Collins
(R)Brad Montell- Was at the meeting with Mark Lerner
(R)CB Embry- Was at the meeting with Mark Lerner

Senators- The Senate is controlled by Republicans
(R)Alice Forgy Kerr
(I)Bob Leeper
(D)Julian Carroll
(D)Kathy Stein- Sponsored legislation in 2007 when she was in the House
(D)Perry Clark- Sponsored legislation in 2007
(D)Ed Worley
(R)Damon Thayer
(R)Dave Williams- Senate President
(R)Garry Tapp
(R)Dan Seum- Was at the meeting with Mark Lerner
(R)Tom Bufford

These legislators were chosen because they are interested, in leadership positions, serve on committees it would get introduced in or sponsored this type of legislation before, and some were chosen at random as likely to be "sympathetic."

You can contact them through the toll free Legislative Message Line above or call 502-564-8100 and ask to be directed to their office to leave a message, of course this would work for any legislator.

You can also find their other contact information here http://www.lrc.ky.gov/Legislators.htm

Just in case we are unable to get this legislation filed I would remind everyone that the fight is not over and instead of having less than a half a year to work on this we will have a whole year for the 2010 session. I know the compliance deadline is 12/31/2009 but this "can" be delayed by the federal government. NOTE: The Identification Security Enhancement Act (ISE) may be passed by Congress this year and repeal REAL ID, however it is only a bait and switch tactic. Let’s stay vigilant on this issue!

If you need any additional information or help please contact Chris Southworth cgbs6183@gmail.com or phone 502-229-2042