How does California know whether an arrested intoxicated person has a drunk driving conviction in, say, Oklahoma?
Or better still, how does Oklahoma know whether a licensed driver also has a driver’s license in, say, California?
Answer: they don’t. Because privacy.
The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) provides participating states with a system (S2S) to check such things.
“State-to-State (S2S) Verification Service is a means for a state to electronically check with all other participating states to determine if the applicant currently holds a driver license or identification card in another state. The platform that supports S2S, the State Pointer Exchange Services (SPEXS) was successfully implemented in July 2015. Participation in S2S does not commit a state to be in compliance with the federal REAL ID Act. However, if a state chooses to be REAL ID compliant, the Department of Homeland Security generally looks for S2S to be part of their compliance plan.”
Not all states participate. As it turns out, neither California nor Oklahoma are part of S2S. Oklahoma is slated to join, but this may not happen.
“Oklahoma lawmakers have asked the state Supreme Court to immediately block the transfer of driver’s license and identification card data to a national interstate data exchange run by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA).
“The lawmakers argue that the planned transmission exceeds statutory authority, violates state privacy protections, and collapses a key distinction that Oklahoma law makes between REAL ID-compliant and noncompliant credentials.”
Based upon past history, it’s no surprise that some in Oklahoma oppose big guvmint and AAMVA S2S participation.
But why has California opted out of S2S?
Basically, the privacy of Social Security Numbers. The state doesn’t to share this personally identifiable information willy nilly.
(As an aside, take a moment to think about how a state in enforcing the privacy of Social Security Numbers, which are assigned at the federal level. And also think about how Social Security Numbers are NOT supposed to be a national ID number. The mind boggles.)
So what do the other states do if someone claims to have a California driver’s license, but California won’t confirm this because of privacy concerns? Here’s what Tennessee does.
“All states and jurisdictions in the United States participate in S2S, except for California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. New or returning Tennessee residents transferring from these nine states must obtain a Motor Vehicle Record (MVR) from their former state. The MVR be issued within 30 days of applying for a Tennessee license or ID.”
Good to know if I ever move out of California.
Bredemarket 