INDIANAPOLIS — At the Indianapolis International Airport, Louise from Noblesville is getting ready for her West Coast trip to San Jose, California.
She has her Real ID in hand, something she's known, for a while, she'll need to get around.
"My understanding is when we got our driver's licenses here, in Indiana, that they are Real IDs because we had to provide all this information so that it would be a Real ID," Louise said.
Louise, who declined to share her last name, is one of more than 4.6 million people in Indiana who have so far taken the steps to get a Real ID.
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"It means you can travel with it within the country," she said.
It has been nearly 20 years since Congress passed a bill requiring Americans to carry a Real ID for travel.
In 2005, Congress enacted the 9/11 Commission's recommendation that the federal government should set minimum security standards for state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards, according to the Indiana branch of the Transportation Security Administration.
This spring, after countless delays and postponements, that law finally will be enforced.
In fact, the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles, along with TSA departments from our state, Kentucky, Illinois, and Ohio recently met in Cincinnati to deliver state progress reports on compliance and enforcement guidelines.
A Real ID will have a star in the upper right-hand corner of your driver's license, permit, or state identification card.
A passport will work at the airport too.
According to figures from the Indiana BMV and TSA, about 78% of Hoosiers going through the Indianapolis airport are already Real ID compliant.
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The TSA in Indiana is urging those Hoosiers who have not yet done so to visit the BMV with proper documentation to obtain a Real ID.
Aaron Batt oversees the TSA at IND and underscores the law simply aims to prove you are who you say you are.
"When you book a ticket," Batt said, "And you're putting in your name and date of birth and gender, we're matching those up against terrorist watch lists and information that might determine the level of risk that a person might present, which then ultimately changes how we do the screening at the security checkpoint for that person."
