Under the final rule issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards in accordance with REAL ID, states must be materially compliant with REAL ID by Dec. 31, 2009 or their citizens will not be able to use their driver’s licenses as identification to board commercial aircraft, enter federal facilities or nuclear power plants starting in January 2010.

Based on a survey of states last month, the National Governor’s Association (NGA) estimates as many as 36 states will not meet the requirements of REAL ID by the end of the year. NGA leaders and state officials have asked DHS and members of Congress to take action by year’s end to avoid disruptions for citizens, especially during the holiday travel period.

In a letter sent earlier this week to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Director Collins-Taylor stated that while Ohio has met 17 of the 18 interim benchmarks for material compliance under the federal REAL ID Act, the state is “unable to commit to full REAL ID compliance because of the extraordinary expense involved in full implementation.”

“The Ohio Department of Public Safety has made great strides in improving driver’s license and identification card issuance processes and in improving identification security. We remain poised to continue to do so in the future. We strongly encourage DHS to revise REAL ID policy so that states such as ours that are making strides with our procedures are not forced to commit to a policy that we simply cannot fund,” wrote Collins-Taylor.

States had until Dec. 1 to seek an additional extension of the compliance deadline to May 2011, by demonstrating material compliance with the core requirements of the Act and this rule. In 2008, Ohio was among the first states granted an extension by DHS after it was recognized that states could not meet the full requirements of REAL ID by May 11, 2008. All 56 U.S. jurisdictions received this initial extension, which is valid until Dec. 31, 2009.