NEWSDAY.COM - Enhanced DMV license available after Labor Day

From my archive of press clippings:

NewsDay.Com

Enhanced DMV license available after Labor Day

BY JAMES T. MADORE james.madore@newsday.com

May 28, 2008

ALBANY - After Labor Day, vacationers on cruise ships to the Caribbean and motorists to Canada will be able to apply for a new driver's license that meets tougher federal identification requirements to re-enter the United States, beginning in June 2009. Officials said yesterday that New York would be only the second state in the country, after Washington, to roll out an Enhanced Driver License that doubles as a passport book but costs $20 less. The new license can be obtained only by residents with proof of U.S. citizenship, and it isn't valid for entry to the country by airplane.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"The enhanced license was first raised last fall by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer as part of a larger plan to offer regular driver's licenses to illegal immigrants in an attempt to reduce traffic accidents and better track residents.

The illegal-immigrant component sparked a firestorm, forcing Spitzer to drop it in November."

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"Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, residents will have to show a passport or other valid identification, such as the enhanced license, to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean or Bermuda via land or sea.

The new license, costing $80, will resemble the current one but will include an American flag on the front and have a radio-frequency identification chip allowing border guards to access necessary information. The fee for renewing a driver's license would remain $50."