It’s May 5, 2025, and I’m taking one last trip to San Francisco International Airport without the coveted golden bear on my driver’s license. As I reach the front of the TSA PreCheck line at the San Diego Airport, I hand the Transportation Security Administration agent my driver’s license. He glances it over. “Just make sure you have a Real ID by May 7,” he said. I politely respond, “I have a passport. Thank you.” 

The United States passed the Real ID Act in 2005. It set a new standard for sources of identification, such as driver’s licenses, pertaining to anyone traveling domestically or entering certain federal buildings. One of the markers on a Real ID license is a golden bear emblem. On Wednesday, 17 years after the original anticipated deadline, TSA across all 50 states and all territories begins enforcement at the airport.

Although the Department of Motor Vehicles across California has seen a significant increase in the number of people trying to schedule an appointment to obtain their Real ID, I have no plans to get one — ever.

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I’m not getting a Real ID, and though I’m not in the business of telling folks what to do, I do think it’s worth asking yourself if you should, too.

There are several reasons why it has taken so long to implement Real ID. A significant point of contention was that not everyone was convinced it was necessary to keep America safe.

The Real ID Act was conceived in 2005 as part of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, but the mandate has been controversial — specifically because it’s so expensive to implement for what NPR has said is essentially security theater. In 2008, the DMV said it would cost the state $300 million to initiate.

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A Homeland Security poster at Miami International Airport reminds travelers they will need a Real ID to fly after May 7, 2025. 

Before the first enforcement date in 2008, more than a dozen states were not on board and considered legislation to bypass it for the invasion of privacy. Maine legislators put their money where their mouth is and did just that in 2007. However, a decade later, the state

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