Driver Licenses From These States May Soon Be Invalid for Domestic Flights

[csziggy]

31. The Real ID Act has been around for a long time but states kept getting extensions

It's one of the reasons that you now have to provide a birth certificate and proof of residence in order to get a driver's license - that is part of the Real ID Act.

The Real ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109–13, 119 Stat. 302, enacted May 11, 2005, is an Act of Congress that modifies U.S. federal law pertaining to security, authentication, and issuance procedures standards for state driver's licenses and identity documents, as well as various immigration issues pertaining to terrorism.

The law sets forth requirements for state driver's licenses and ID cards to be accepted by the federal government for "official purposes", as defined by the Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary of Homeland Security has defined "official purposes" as boarding commercially operated airline flights, and entering federal buildings and nuclear power plants, although the law gives the Secretary the unlimited authority to require a "federal identification" for any other purposes.[4]

The Real ID Act implements the following:

Title II of the act establishes new federal standards for state-issued driver's licenses and non-driver identification cards.
Changing visa limits for temporary workers, nurses, and Australian citizens.
Funding some reports and pilot projects related to border security.
Introducing rules covering "delivery bonds" (similar to bail, but for aliens who have been released pending hearings).
Updating and tightening the laws on application for asylum and deportation of aliens for terrorism.
Waiving laws that interfere with construction of physical barriers at the borders.

On December 20, 2013, the Department of Homeland Security announced that implementation of Phase 1 would begin on January 20, 2014, which followed a yearlong period of "deferred enforcement". There are four planned phases, three of which apply to areas that affect relatively few U.S. citizens—e.g., DHS headquarters, nuclear power plants, and restricted and semi-restricted federal facilities such as military bases.[5] On January 8, 2016, DHS issued an implementation schedule for Phase 4, stating that starting January 22, 2018 "passengers with a driver's license issued by a state that is still not compliant with the REAL ID Act (and has not been granted an extension) will need to show an alternative form of acceptable identification for domestic air travel to board their flight". Starting October 1, 2020 "every air traveler will need a REAL ID-compliant license, or another acceptable form of identification, for domestic air travel."[6] As of April 2019, 43 states and territories have been certified as compliant, and 13 have been granted extensions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_ID_Act

Lots more details in the Wikipedia article as well as links for even more.