Virginia Passes Anti-Real ID Bills Out of Committee!
Congratulations! With your help Virginians had a Real ID Act victory last week, as both anti Real ID bills – H.B.1587 & S.B.1431 – were reported, unchanged, out of the House & Senate Transportation Committees. This means these committees heard you! But the battle is not over. We must now join the fight onto the larger battleground of the full House of Delegates, and then on to the Senate. But remember, Virginia’s legislative session is very short and we still have a lot of work to do. Whether or not you live in Virginia, we must act, and act quickly! The House is expected to vote on this issue this week!
Virginia’s Governor Kaine supports Real ID, and his buddies control the Virginia Senate. So we will first concentrate our efforts on the House of Delegates. Del. Marshall is to be commended for not caving to the pressure of Speaker Howell last week, as evidenced by Del. Janis’ attempt to rewrite his bill to actually implement Real ID. But we must do more than voice our unalterable support for Marshall’s bill, we must also support Del. Athey’s budget amendment, #441-1h, which will prevent the House of Delegates from providing funding for Real ID compliance.
It’s possible Del. Marshall’s bill will be amended beyond all recognition, mutilated to the point that the American Policy Center and all freedom-loving Americans cannot support it. And even if this bill is passed unaltered by the House, we will fight an uphill battle in the Senate, and finally, Governor Kaine may decide to veto it. So we must presume and prepare for the worst case scenario, while doing all we can to achieve complete victory.
Our highest achievement will be a clean Opt Out bill. Most politicians would rather vote for a bill than to vote against a budget, so our strongest effort must be to pressure delegates to pass Del. Marshall’s bill, H.B. 1157, unaltered by hostile amendments. But we must also demand no budget be passed which will fund Real ID!
Please note: It does not matter if you are a resident of Virginia or not. Make the calls. A flood of calls to delegate offices will make a difference. We need to make them feel the heat to preserve American privacy rights. We must make these calls now!
ACTION TO TAKE
Don’t let any delegate tell you that voting against funding is no longer needed because Bob Marshall’s H.B. 1587 takes care of the problem. That’s a long shot, and not worth the risk!
ALL – Contact Virginia Delegates here:
# Tell them to support H.B. 1587, unchanged.
# Tell them to support Del. Athey’s budget amendment (#441-1h) forbidding funding Real ID.
ALL – Contact Speaker Howell. You can contact him via Phone: (804) 698-1090, Fax: (804) 698-6790, or Email: DelAHowell@house.virginia.gov or delhowell@aol.com.
# Tell him to support H.B. 1587, unchanged.
# Tell him to support Del. Athey’s budget amendment (#441-1h) forbidding funding Real ID.
Time is of the essence. We must stop Real ID in Virginia THIS WEEK! Thank you in advance for making these calls and fighting to preserve our freedom.
Visit the American Policy Center website
www.americanpolicy.org
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