Starting in January 2018, the Transportation Security Administration, TSA, will no longer accept Missouri ID’s for boarding commercial flights. Why, you might ask? It all goes back to 2005, when Congress passed the REAL ID Act, which set a standard for minimum security standards for state-issued drivers licenses. The act prohibits federal agencies from accepting IDs that do not meet the standards set forth by the act. A law passed in Missouri in 2009, enacted in order to protect Missouri citizens privacy, prohibits the Missouri Department of Revenue from complying with the REAL ID ACT.

The federal government gave states time to comply with the act, and beginning in 2018, TSA will be one of the federal agencies who will not accept IDs from noncompliant states. This is seen by some as a way to strong arm noncompliant states into complying, as the federal government cannot actually dictate what state issued IDs have on them. It is seen as though passengers flying with the noncompliant IDs are being used as pawns to accomplish the goal of getting all states to comply, and some are not happy about this.

There are nine states that do not comply with the REAL ID Act, including Missouri, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Washington. Kansas City legislators are hoping to tackle the issue in 2017 to resolve the issue before 2018, however, if you are moving to Kansas City and get a new ID, you should be aware of the legislation regarding traveling with your ID and TSA compliance.