Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 3, 1 March 2008 — OHA registry card [ARTICLE]

OHA registry card

I support the Office of Hawaiian Affairs Hawaiian Registry and am always proud to show my Hawaiian Registry ID card to friends and colleagues. In the advent of the U.S. government's Real ID Act, OHA needs to strongly assert that the Hawaiian Registry card is itself a legitimate, legal, high integrity ID card with a similar, and maybe better verification process. On May 11, 2005, President Bush signed the Real ID Act into law, whieh mandates that starting in May 2008 a state driver's license or ID card cannot be used for any federal purpose unless it meets specific federal requirements. For example, noncompliant driver's licenses or state-issued ID cards cannot be used for identification to board federally regulated commercial aircraft,

enter nuclear power plants, or to access any federal facility. I am appealing to OHA to look into this matter and assert our rights to have the ID provided by the Hawaiian Registry be an acceptable legal identification instrument nationwide to be recognized and treated as a Real ID similar to what the U.S. government mandates. OHA's free Hawaiian Registry Ancestry Verification Program registers people of Hawaiian ancestry worldwide, regardless of blood quantum.

If accepted nationwide, it will validate the strong value of the Hawaiian Registry and most of all provide a positive recognition of who we rare. If accepted as an alternative Real ID, no doubt, this will generate increased registration of all Native Hawaiians worldwide. I believe that the American Indians are also asserting their Tribal Card as an alternate Real ID card. Keoni Kealoha Devereaux Jr. Mō'ili'ili