The future of travel is closer to the Jetsons rather the Flintstones, said Washington, D.C., City Council member Jack Evans on Tuesday. And it very well may be. D.C.'s city council heard testimony on legislation (Bill 19-931) that would legalize driverless vehicles, or autonomic vehicles, on city streets within the District for testing purposes. If D.C. were to pass the bill, it would join California, Nevada, and Florida in the ranks of governments that have approved legislation allowing for testing on city streets and the issuance of driver’s license endorsements for driverless cars.

Supporters of the vehicles, including Daimler and Volvo, testified at the hearing before the Council's transportation committee with the indication that driverless cars would reduce human error on the roads and crashes, congestion and improve the environment.

Sponsors of the legislation say it needs to be further refined, but the bill will likely come to a committee vote within weeks. Several council members have already been inside of Google’s test car and are excited about the prospects of this legislation passing.

Meanwhile, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., Volvo sponsored a discussion about the future of automated vehicles hosted at the Swedish Embassy.  David Strickland, chief administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), said at the presentation that the agency has held extensive discussions about what needs to be done before these vehicles can safely be introduced to consumers. The federal government is preparing to launch a research initiative to determine the safety and reliability of automated driving technologies.

When will these cars be available? Daimler representative David Trebing said the company’s fully autonomous cars would not be available for another decade or more. Google has stated contrarily that they could be available within the next decade. With auto makers and technology companies such as Google quickening the pace of getting legislation passed on the state level to test vehicles, they scored multiple wins in the nation’s capitol on Tuesday. They cleared the way for testing approval in one of America’s densest cities and a fourth state-like government. Above all, they simultaneously made further headway with the federal government that would service them across all fifty states. We are far from the flying cars in the Jetsons, but the stopover this week has created much buzz in the capital.

By Andrew Guevara, AAMVA Government Affairs Coordinator

Recently, Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Richard Lugar (R-IN) sent a letter to the White House urging President Obama not to issue an executive order on the subject of cybersecurity. They requested that he take into consideration the importance of passing a bill through the legislative process rather than forming policy through executive action. The senators reasoned, “The ramifications of a national cybersecurity policy for the public and private sectors are significant and deserve the transparency and legitimacy that can be achieved only though the legislative process.”

Administration officials began drafting an executive order after the Senate failed to come to an agreement on cybersecurity legislation in August. The Cybersecurity Act would have established cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure and would have also created an exchange for companies and the government to share cyber threats. Last week, another group of Senate Republicans set a letter to the president mirroring this week’s request.

The president’s executive reaction comes in response to the relentless partisan stalemate in Congress that prevented a proposal from being agreed upon prior to the August recess. This is far from the only issue that the president has reacted to by offering an executive order to combat congressional inaction. While national cybersecurity has been a main focus of the administration, especially over the course of the last year, any measures on cybersecurity will have a significant impact on the country's security and economic wellbeing. According to Congress, a true solution can only be achieved when they exercise their legislative authority to address all the fundamental issues that extend beyond the scope of the executive offices. That being said, cooperation amongst all stakeholders involved is fundamental to ensuring a well-crafted and stalwart solution to mending the country’s cyberpitfalls.

By Andrew Guevara, AAMVA Government Affairs Coordinator

Brian Ursino, AAMVA’s Director of Law Enforcement participated to the IACP Conference and associated meetings September 17^th-October 2^nd in San Diego, CA. Ursino currently chairs the IACP Division of State and Provincial Police (S&P) Alumni Section, and sits on the IACP S&P Executive Board which held its Annual meeting on Friday, September 28. Alumni Section members are predominantly retired State Police/Patrol Colonels or Lieutenant Colonels who like Ursino, have moved into other professions that contribute to public and traffic safety.  On September 28^th, the S&P Executive Committee conducted its Annual Meeting and that evening John Batiste, WSP Chief and General Chair of the S&P hosted a reception in the auditorium of Petco Park, home of the San Diego Padres.

On Saturday (September 29^th) Ursino chaired the annual meeting of the S&P Alumni Section with special guest John Batiste in attendance. A total of 21 S&P Alumni members were in attendance. Immediately following the Alumni Section was the S&P business meeting which was attended by Colonels from more than 40 states, and law enforcement executives from the RCMP and other Canadian law enforcement executives. Also in attendance were several federal partners and other stakeholders, including AAMVA’s President and CEO, Neil Schuster. One of the business meeting highlights included a presentation on the Aurora, Colorado, mass shooting and the role of the State Fusion Center. The lunchtime speaker of the day was Tom Garfinkel, President of the San Diego Padres who spoke about Leadership Lessons. The S&P Annual Banquet was held Saturday night where the position of S&P General Chair officially transitioned from John Batiste to Colonel Mike Edmonson of the Louisiana State Police, who will hold the S&P General Chair position for the next two-years.

Following his participation in the IACP 5K Run along Mission Bay on Sunday, September 30^th, Ursino attended an invitation-only focus group hosted by 3M to provide feedback on a license plate micro site (webpage) they plan to launch later this year. This meeting was also attended by AAMVA Board member Colonel Rob Replogle, Missouri Highway Patrol. On Sunday afternoon from 1-5 p.m., Ursino served as a “Special Consultant” to the IACP Highway Safety Committee meeting.  It was during this meeting, that Ursino provided an AAMVA update including a highlight of the recent publication of our “Best Practices Guide for Improving Automated License Plate Reader Effectiveness through Uniform License Plate Design and Manufacture”.

Monday’s IACP Conference highlight was the First General Assembly. The featured speakers were (in speaking order): Khoo Boon Hui, President of Interpol; Mr. Sean Joyce, Deputy Director, FBI; and The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States.

And on Tuesday, October 2^nd the conference highlighted the presentation of the Annual Highway Safety Awards. National Law Enforcement Challenge (NLEC) Awards are given to agencies judged to be best in class for their efforts in meeting established traffic safety criteria.

Congratulations go to the following AAMVA member agencies that won in the State Police/Highway Patrol categories:

• State Category 1 (1 – 250 Sworn Officers): Montana Highway Patrol;

• State Category 2 (251 – 500 Sworn Officers: Nebraska State Patrol (1st Place) and Vermont State Police (2nd Place);

• State Category 3 (501 – 1,000 Sworn Officers): Colorado State Patrol (1st Place) and Tennessee Highway Patrol (2nd Place);

• State Category 4 (1,001 – 2,500 Sworn Officers): Washington State Patrol (1st Place) and Massachusetts State Police (2nd Place);

• State Category 5 (2,501 or more Sworn Officers): California Highway Patrol.

The chronicle of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s voter ID law may have finally ended–at least for the time being. After being sent the state’s voter ID law from the state Supreme Court to decide its constitutionality, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr. ordered a temporary injunction barring the law from being enforced before the November general elections. (Ironically, Simpson is the same judge who had initially upheld the law in August before being sent to the Supreme Court.)The judge reasoned this time around that the law did not allow potential voters to receive the IDs they needed in time for the elections. He said in his 17-page opinion, “…I am still not convinced in my predictive judgment that there will be no voter disenfranchisement" if the law was to take effect immediately.

He cited his concern over the gap between the expected number of voter IDs having to be issued and the actual number being distributed in the five weeks until the election. Despite the injunction, poll workers can still ask voters for identification, but they cannot prevent them from voting if they do not present one. Provisional ballots will also not have to be filled out. The temporary halt can become permanent if Judge Simpson offers a further determination on the case after the election.

The full 17-page opinion can be read here: http://www.pacourts.us/NR/rdonlyres/CFBF4323-B964-4846-8179-88D689375C10/0/CMWSuppDetAppPrelInjOrder_100212.pdf

By Andrew Guevara, AAMVA Government Affairs Coordinator

By Amanda Mesones, Electronic Communications Specialist, AAMVA

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators…AAMVA. Ever wonder what it really means to be part of AAMVA?

Join Ian Grossman, AAMVA's Vice President of Member Services & Public Affairs for a discussion on everything you never knew you didn't know about AAMVA, and more.

You’ll get a chance to roll up your sleeves and really gain an understanding of what we DO for our members. You'll hear the latest information, products, best practices and services that AAMVA offers its members. Register today at www.aamva.org/Webinar-Series/

The Webinar is a great opportunity for AAMVA members who aren’t able to attend the workshops and conferences to gather in a room, log in, and learn.  Attend and find out how AAMVA is here to serve you, from A to Z. You'll hear the latest information, products, best practices and services that AAMVA offers its members. 

Let’s take a sneak peak at what you’ll learn about:  

As part of the public sector, we all know that time and money are the biggest constraints to our daily functioning. So, an important resource that AAMVA provides is member networking: meetings, conferences, workshops, information exchange, committees, working groups, you name it. These opportunities allow our members to come together, exchange ideas, challenges, and solutions so that we’re not all spending time and resources “reinventing the wheel,” so to speak.

You’ll learn about our in-house experts who help members identify and solve key MVA issues such as older drivers, distracted driving, ignition interlocks, unconventional vehicles, ID card standards, and much more. Get the low-down on AAMVA’s committee structure and the value they provide. Each year, working groups from each of AAMVA’s three committees roll out best practices for use by our members. Such best practices include the DL/ID card design standard, driver fitness medical guidelines, graduated driver licensing, mini-truck best practices, and internal fraud detection and deterrence. Some highly anticipated resources that are expected to be released soon include a motorcycle operator’s manual, a best practice on registration and titling of unconventional vehicles, and a best practice on handling drivers with suspended and revoked licenses.

Did you know we also provide a courtesy verification program? Fraudulent document recognition training? CDL examiner training? How about, certification for driver, motorcycle and commercial examiners? Oh yeah...we do all that!

PLUS--We provide the technical props to make it all work! These include document verification systems, driver license data verification system, and even a high-quality, cost-effective data communications network service connecting buyer access to all 51 motor vehicle licensing jurisdictions.

Of course, with emerging issues such as medical fitness, impaired driving, distracted driving, tolls, and vehicle miles traveled, we need to be able to keep in touch with our members. Our flagship publication, MOVE magazine, is now also online providing the latest information on all these issues and more. We're also in the social media sphere with Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. And, let's not forget, AAMVA's newly redesigned Web site.

All of this we do, and more...for our members!

So, if you are in the MVA community, and you've asked yourself "Does AAMVA do that?" Why don't you join us online for the "AAMVA...Yeah we do that" webinar on Wednesday, October 10th at 2:00 PM. You'll probably be surprised at all the things you never knew you didn't know about AAMVA. Register today at www.aamva.org/Webinar-Series/

By Geoff Slagle, Director, Identity Management
   
New Orleans - For the first time in thirteen years the U.S. is playing host to the annual plenary for the ISO technical committee (ISO JTC1/SC17) and its working groups that are responsible for international standards relating to identification cards and devices. Both the technical committee and the working groups are made up of representatives / experts from industrial, technical and business sectors that have an interest in or a need for these standards (including representatives of government agencies, testing laboratories, consumer associations, and so on). The experts participate as national delegations from 34 countries (an additional 15 countries are categorized as observers), chosen by the ISO national member for the country concerned (for the U.S. this is the American National Standards Institute). AAMVA’s Mike Calvin and Geoff Slagle are both part of the U.S. delegation for ANSI.

Much of the meeting for WG10 (Driving License) is focusing on Part 3 of the ISO 18013 standard that addresses access control, authentication and integrity validation. This part of the standard creates a common basis for international use and mutual recognition of the ISO compliant DL without impeding individual countries/states to apply their privacy rules and national/community/regional motor vehicle authorities in taking care of their specific needs.   

• Access control (i.e. limiting access to the machine readable data recorded on the IDL).   
• Document authentication (i.e. confirming that the document was issued by the claimed issuing authority).          
• Data integrity validation (i.e. confirming that the data was not changed since issuing).     

By Andrew Guevara, AAMVA Government Affairs Coordinator

All electoral eyes are once again back on the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania this week. On Tuesday, the state Supreme Court sent the state’s voter ID case back to Commonwealth Court Judge Robert E. Simpson Jr.  The law in question requires voters to show photo ID to cast a ballot in any election. The highest court in the state directed the lower court judge to issue a preliminary injunction if he determines voters will be disenfranchised at the polls by not having “liberal access” to the proper identification.

Simpson ruled on Aug. 15 against a request by a union of opponents fighting the voter ID law to prevent it from going into effect by the November general elections. Since then, PennDOT began offering a new voter ID on Aug. 27 for voters who could not obtain other forms of identification. The state has issued approximately 9,000 IDs to date.

Simpson must offer an opinion on the matter by Oct. 2.

by Andrew Guevara, AAMVA Government Affairs Coordinator

After a relatively sedate summer since the passage of MAP-21, the latest highway reauthorization bill, the subject of highway funding has squirmed itself into the Capitol chambers again. With the continuing resolution (H J Res 117) scheduled to be debated and voted on the House floor this week, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has expressed her anxiety with the current proposal that would cut highway formula spending in FY13 to $39.14 billion from the current level of $39.7 billion, approximately a half-billion dollars, and jeopardize 17,000 construction related jobs.

The continuing resolution would fund the government for another six months and extend current spending levels but if passed as a “clean CR,” it could risk new programs authorized by MAP-21. House Republicans explained that the new programs can only be fully funded by a corresponding appropriations bill, which would most likely occur through a FY13 omnibus appropriations bill. Despite the lack of funding for new authorized highway programs, current programs that were axed in the reauthorization bill, such as the TIGER grants, would still exist for another six months.

Highway safety advocacy groups have urged both the House and Senate to support the nation's priority highway safety grant program, enacted by Section 405 of MAP-21. The grant program was a consolidation of multiple safety grant programs into one new program. The program will streamline the grant process as related to highway safety programs to save time and money. With Congressional policymakers continuing to debate the ideological schisms between controlled spending and the need for revamped safety programs, the language used in the six-month continuing resolution could serve as a barometer indicating which way the wind is blowing.

By Andrew Guevara, AAMVA Government Affairs Coordinator

With a little more than two months until the November general elections, the battleground state of Pennsylvania has become an arena for the latest voter ID showdown. Last Wednesday, a federal judge upheld the state’s voter ID law requiring voters to show identification at polling places, which is set to go into effect Election Day of this year.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson ruled that he did not have sufficient evidence to prove that the law violated voter’s rights or disenfranchised certain groups of people. He also challenged the approximate number of voters who would need a new ID in order to comply with the law, placing the figure between one- and nine-percent of the voting population, and said there is still time for those without proper ID to acquire it. He stated in his seventy-page opinion that the law is “reasonable, non-discriminatory, non-severe burden when viewed in the broader context of the widespread use of photo ID in daily life.” He added in the ruling that the integrity of elections was vital to consider when deciding the burden of the law on voters. 

Pennsylvania voters can start applying and receiving a new photo ID card issued specifically for citizens not eligible to receive a driver’s license or who did not have the proper documents for other state-issued IDs from PennDOT licensing facilities in late-August. Citizens only have to show two proofs of residence, such as a utility bill and social security number or date of birth, in order to obtain the new voter ID.

Read Judge Simpson’s opinion here.