Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Aug. 29, 2007, edition 1 / Page 5
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Satlg ®ar Hwl State leaders examine impact of license law BY ELIZABETH DEORNELLAS ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR Many states voiced strong oppo sition this summer to a federal measure to heighten the security of driver’s licenses, yet North Carolina remains among the minority seek ing compliance. The enactment of the REAL ID Act, passed in 2005 to combat ter rorism, has a flexible May 2008 deadline and is expected to cost a more than $23 billion nationwide. During the last legislative ses sion, many states called the act an unfunded federal mandate that intrudes on state authority. About two-thirds of the bills generated by state legislatures in 2007 addressing the issue were anti-REAL ID, said Matt Sundeen, spokesman for the National Conference of State Legislatures. “We’ve seen a lot of pushback on this issue, although it hasn’t all been pushback,” he said. Twenty state legislatures passed bills that were in opposition to the federal legislation; six states issued laws prohibiting any com pliance with the act. Thirteen more states passed nonbinding resolu tions declaring their opposition, Sundeen said. But four states passed measures to bring their state into compliance with the act, and three states set aside funding to help compliance efforts, he added. The latest N.C. budget includes a provision that requires the state Department of TVansportation to report the projected cost of the act to the N.C. General Assembly. North Carolina has been unable to determine the cost of implement ing the act because the federal reg ulations have not been finalized. A bill that could ensure total compliance with the act was introduced in the N.C. House in February. “We think we’re further along than a lot of the states,” said Marge Howell, an N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles communications officer. North Carolina has put forward several initiatives to strengthen the security of driver’s licenses. State Rep. Cary Allred, R- Alamance, said that before North Carolina tightened its regulations Fall Semester Checklist V, Register for classes Buy textbooks _J Sign up for a meal plan Have you bought your meal plan yet? Btkim semses ’ w ' * * Once you sign up online, you will receive o bill from the Cashier's office in September. that applicants would come from as far as New Jersey and Pennsylvania to get a N.C. driver’s license. “North Carolina was known as the easiest place in the nation to get a driver’s license,” he said, add ing that the security situation has definitely improved. Allred acknowledged that he has reservations concerning the pos sible invasion of privacy involved with the act’s establishment of a central database of information about U.S. citizens. “I’ve had quite a few constitu ents who’ve questioned the neces sity of it.” There are three main objections to the act: high cost estimates, invasion of privacy concerns and N.C. driver's license regulations February 2004 dmv excludes the use of any foreign identification documents except valid passports paired with unexpired visas. March 2004DMV begins checking applications against the Social Security Administration's database. February 2005 dmv begins electronically storing driver's license photographs. December 2005 Licenses are made valid only for the period that the applicant's visa is valid. August 2006 individual tax payer identification numbers are no longer accepted for applicants without Social Security numbers. >- Upcoming initiatives Mid"2ooßThe state will be able to check the immigration status of applicants with the Department of Homeland Security. Mid-2008DMV offices will issue temporary certificates, good for 20 days; identification documents will then be checked and licenses will be mailed out from a central location. SOURCE: N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles federalist issues related to the fed eral regulation of what has always been a state issue, Sundeen said. In Maine, one of the six states to pass a law prohibiting any state spending on efforts to comply with the act, all of those objections have been raised. Officials estimated that imple menting the act would cost Maine $lB5 million in the first five years, said Don Cookson, communications director for Maine’s Department of the Secretary of State. Cookson said the act also would shift the responsibility of immi gration enforcement to the states by requiring more extensive local measures to verify legal residency. “That’s a tremendous undertak ing, something that really states should not have to concern them selves with,” he said. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu. ■ ■ \ £ -T* • . 5 -' I \ Sm 1 - - v. i' \„ „ f r V 4 i 'jd WANTING TO GET MORE OUT OF LIFE IS STRONG. ~ > GETTING THE MOST OUT OF LIFE IS ARMY STRONG. v * - .j/: \ K > * There’s strong. Then there’s Army Strong. The strength that comes from expert training In one of over 150 different career fields—as well as money for ' college. Find out how to get it at goarmy.com/strong. U S ARMY] ARMY STRONG, f Ask us how you can become an Officer in the Army or Army Reserve News Union lactation room opens BY MEGHAN E. WOODS STAFF WRITER Many students know how dif ficult it can be to find a private place on campus. But for nursing mothers, finding a place that’s both quiet and private can be downright impossible. That’s why the Student Union opened a room Monday specifical ly for University-affiliated mothers who are nursing children. “We identified that there was a need for this on central campus,” said Scott Hudson, associate direc tor of the Carolina Union. “It was a need not just for staff, but for grad uate students and undergraduate students as well.” The lactation room, in Union 3200, is the third lactation facil ity on campus, but the first to be located on central campus. The other lactation facilities are at the Carolina Women’s Center on Franklin Street and the School of Public Health on South Campus. The room features a lounge chair, two side tables, a rocking chair, a baby-changing station and power outlets for electric breast pumps. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2007 Women can present their UNC One Card at the Union’s front desk to get a key to the room. Hudson said there had been requests for a centrally located lac tation room in the past, from lactat ing mothers and from campus com mittees on family and child care. But it was not until spring semes ter that the Carolina Union Board of Directors voted to put a lactation facility on central campus. The lactation room also was a goal 0f2006-07 Student Body President James Allred and Graduate and Professional Student Federation President Lauren Anderson. Donna Bickford, director of the women’s center, said the new lac tation room is important space to have on campus. “Faculty members have the pri vacy of their office where they could lactate, but some prefer not to use STUFFWATSON jti* PRODUCTIONS INC £ ? § V* RMIEIIT: ' !® % n m mi yift i ion i •• ! ’ ™ 1! -Im IKE & SHYST FLAUCE YUNG REAL DYNAMITE (HUG]’- lA ii I j.i ,V\ w-' 1 136{.RosemarySt {{/ 'Chanel HillNC WiitiV** Wtir O%, o*k I Tickets also available at Pita Pit - 115 E. Franklin St. | their offices,” she said. “Many staff members don’t have offices, so the location in the Union makes the room very valuable.” Hudson said budgeting for the project was not an issue, as the room cost at most SSOO, excluding labor. “The work was done with our own staff,” he said. “We bought a few things and used new furniture that we already had.” Bickford said there still should be more lactation rooms on campus because not everyone has time to walk back and forth to the Union. “In an ideal situation, we’d have three or four lactation rooms for staff and students,” she said. “Pumping and having to walk back makes it impossible to continue to breast-feed for those with rigid schedules.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. 5
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Aug. 29, 2007, edition 1
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