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Territory to get $300K from the Real ID Demonstration Grant awards
American Samoa will be receiving $300,000 under the US Department of Homeland Security’s FY 2008 Real ID Demonstration Grant awards for states and territories. This is part of USDHS’s $80-million-dollar funding to assist states and territories in improving the security of state-issued and identification documents.
(The new AS Digital Drivers Licensing System, the second component of the Modernization Program for the Office of Motor Vehicles, complies with the Real ID Act and was funded by a Real ID grant).
The Real ID Demonstration Grant awards fund state-specific projects including the improvement of physical security of licenses, upgrading facility security, and modernizing document imaging and storage.
In addition, funding will also be provided for the development and testing of a verification hub that will allow states to query federal and non-federal document-issuing authorities and verify applicant source documents.
The Real ID program addresses a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission to enhance the security, integrity, and protection of licensing and identification systems across the country.
At the moment, the Vehicle Title and Registration System and the Digital Drivers Licensing System in place at OMV (which are merging standards under the Real ID Act), places American Samoa at a level of 85% compliance.
The deadline to be in full compliance was May 2008 but American Samoa has been granted an extension until December 2009.
More than $58 million has been allocated for state-specific implementation projects that facilitate Real ID compliance.
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