The Missouri Senate has given first-round approval to legislation that would prohibit the Department of Revenue (DOR) from scanning and storing source documents for driver’s license, conceal-carry, and other applications.
Senate Bill 252 would require the state agency to destroy all scanned copies obtained since September of 2012, and to do so by the end of this year. It’s sponsored by State Senator Will Kraus (R, Lee’s Summit). He says the Department of Revenue is seeking to implement the 2005 federal Real ID Act, even though a bill barring the agency from doing so was signed into law four years ago.
“I was very frustrated when Senator (Kurt) Schaefer (R, Columbia) read his (copy of a) letter that the Department of Revenue at that point sent to the federal government on Real ID...making sure that we’re compliant and...that we were gonna be in compliance by May of this year,” Kraus said.
The bill needs one more Senate vote before moving to the Missouri House. Meanwhile, Governor Jay Nixon (D) has denied that the Department of Revenue is implementing the Real ID Act, and also says his agency is not forwarding driver’s license and conceal-carry applicants’ personal information to the federal government.
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