I figure I would honor my 250th post with a bill that, frankly, taps into the roots of my political life – my utter disdain for anything that creates a “big-brother” type of scenario. H.B. 325, as proposed by Representative Stephen Sandstrom (R – Orem, District 58) is in a similar vain, as the bill title explains, it allows Utah to opt out of the REAL ID Act as passed by the United States Congress back in 2005.

Now, for those of you who don’t know, the REAL ID Act (from a states point of view) is basically a mandate from the United States Congress for all 50 states to adopt a new standard for issuing things like drivers licenses and waves rules that allow the construction of physical barriers to protect borders. I assume Sandstrom takes greater issue with the former, as it is very unlikely that Utah will be erecting any walls anytime soon.

As it stands, many states have passed bills similar to this one. Sandstrom cites the 10th Amendment as the major reason that Utah does not have to comply with the standard (you know, the one that says that powers not given to the United States by the Constitution are reserved for states or the people). He also rightly claims that this act puts an unfair financial burden on the state and that it is hostile to the ideas of security and well-being (this bill gets extra points for using the word “inimical” instead of hostile, by the way…go ahead, look it up).

In the end, I have to agree with Representative Sandstrom – though I fully suspect that we are coming from very different points of view. I suspect that he just does not like big government telling the states what to do whereas I am much more concerned about the privacy problems associated with the act. Regardless I am happy to see someone standing up for this.