A Senate bill that would allow Californians to apply for driver’s licenses embedded with radio-frequency identification chips, or RFIDs, last week failed to pass the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SB 397 was authored by Senator Ben Hueso with the intent of making the border between Mexico and California faster and easier to cross. The RFID-embedded license would contain a randomly assigned number linked to a Department of Homeland Security database and a machine-readable zone that would contain the information needed for the individual to cross the border, as well as the individual’s photograph and signature.
"Enhanced Driver’s Licenses can provide a significant economic benefit to the state of California, while strengthening border security," Hueso said in a May press release. "They will greatly reduce wait times at the border, thereby incentivizing economic development in our border region."
A 2007 report from the San Diego Association of Governments and the California Department of Transportation stated that 45 million personal vehicle passengers and 15 million pedestrians enter California from Mexico every year, but border wait times during peak weekday hours can average up to 120 minutes and causes revenue loss of $1.03 billion in San Diego, according to an analysis by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
However, privacy groups have complained about the possibility of the government misusing the information contained in the cards and have expressed concerns that the RFID-enabled cards would go from optional to mandatory over years.
"[T]he cost to privacy and security far outweighs any benefits. If you carry one of these licenses in your wallet or purse, you can be tracked and stalked without your knowledge or consent," Nicole Ozer, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer, said to Wired magazine.
Michigan, New York, Vermont and Washington have already begun using RFID-enabled licenses linked to the DHS database.
Hueso attempted to introduce a similar bill, Assembly Bill 2113, in 2012, but it was similarly suspended in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
