OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – As state leaders get ready for the REAL ID Act to go into effect next year, they are releasing what the state’s compliant driver’s licenses will look like in the future.
The REAL ID Act was put in place in 2005 to improve the reliability of state-issued ID’s, making it harder for terrorists to obtain fake identification.
In 2007, Oklahoma passed a law that said our state wouldn’t comply with the REAL ID Act, citing concerns about how residents’ information was stored.
Over the last few years, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has given Oklahoma several extensions to meet the requirements in the REAL ID Act. Without the extensions, federal agencies would have been prohibited from accepting Oklahoma driver’s licenses as proper identification cards.
Oklahoma is still one of just a few states that are not REAL ID-compliant.
However, officials believe the state will be ready when the Transportation Security Administration begins requiring REAL IDs in October of 2020.
“According to the latest timeline given to the Department of Public Safety by the vendor, the project maintains its progression toward the estimated target date of April 2020 for initial rollout. Additionally, full statewide implementation will be completed by September 2020,” the state’s latest extension request read.
Officials told News 4 they plan to begin issuing REAL IDs on April 30, 2020 in select locations.
Now, we’re getting a look at what the state’s REAL ID-compliant licenses will look like in the future.
On Tuesday, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety released a photo of what Oklahoma drivers can expect when they get their REAL ID-compliant license next year.
