By 2018, PA License Not Valid ID For Boarding Airplane, Homeland Security Says

Residents of Pennsylvania, one of five states that are still out of compliance with federal ID requirements passed in 2005, will no longer be able to use their driver's licenses to enter federal facilities starting Jan. 30 and in the near future will not be able to use them to board a flight.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a letter to the state Department of Transportation, said in 2018, Pennsylvania residents will also not be able to use their license to board a commercial flight, according to a report by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

If Pennsylvania doesn't comply by then, all residents will have to use a valid passport or other federally issued identification to board a commercial flight, the Post Gazette reported.

Pennsylvania, along with Kentucky, Maine, Oklahoma and South Carolina, has not met the requirements of the REAL ID Act of 2005, which was passed as a security measure after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The law established minimum security standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards and prohibits federal agencies from accepting for official purposes licenses and identification cards from states that do not meet the standards.

The crackdown is part of a phased enforcement plan started in 2013 by the Department of Homeland Security.

State officials tell the Post Gazette that to implement the law in Pennsylvania, it could cost $250 million to $300 million.