Real ID.
 

Is Your ID Approved for Travel? These Are the Latest Rules - The New York Times

Seems like FL air travelers will need one of these by some time in 2020?

This mess is due to some states granting drivers' licenses to illegal aliens as drivers' licenses had historically been accepted as ID for domestic flights.. It has caused US citizens great inconvenience in time and money and even hardship in some cases.

I had to go back and pay more money for a Real ID driver's license after I had renewed my license without bringing my passport and other documents to the DMV. Since I fly so often I went ahead and obtained a passport card. Of course all this takes extra time and money. What a pain!

If you mean the Drivers' License that has the star imprinted on it, it was no inconvenience at all. The price was the same with or without the star, which indicates that the license is valid as a Federal ID. The SelectID program in Connecticut was implemented in 2011, and I got my "star license" when my last regular license expired a few years ago. Really not a big deal, and it's a great idea. In Connecticut, all I needed was this:
Two forms of identification - such as a birth certificate and/or a passport.
Proof of address
Proof of social security number
Proof of any name changes

Most people have most of this documentation already. It's pretty easy to get the rest of it. Birth certificates can be tricky if the town hall in your home of birth burned down before the advent of the internet and the records were lost, but birth certificates are necessary for a lot of things, not just federal ID cards so it's in your best interest to get one long before you actually need to present it to anyone.

Also no, it wasn't implemented to curtail "illegals with drivers' licenses." The law has been on the books since at -least- 2011, and was slated to become officially effective in 2017. All states had at least these 6 years to prepare for the law's full effect, and obviously they got a couple extra years because some states still aren't in compliance. This was a measure, if I recall correctly, as part of a very long, arduous overhaul to federal security in the wake of 9/11/2001. It was intended to streamline the process of getting properly-identified American citizens through airport security and enter Federal buildings, and for various commercial transactions.

Always great when someone pays attention and understands the facts and shares them. It still amazes me how some hear half the facts, make up the other half then post as if they are the truth. Thanks for posting and I also have the Real ID when I renewed my license, easy, no hassle. The passport card is also for Canada and Mexico only, anywhere else requires passport if you leave the Country.

My license doesn't serve as a passport card, but it's a valid form of Federal ID anywhere within the continent, Hawaii, Alaska, and US territories. I have a normal passport passbook for anything involving another country's border.

We moved to The Villages in the summer of 2016, becoming full-time Florida residents. We went to the DMV, surrendered our out of state driver's licenses and obtained Florida licenses. The Florida licenses at that time already met the Real ID requirement. I don't know when Florida began issuing Real ID type driver's licenses, but if a Florida resident renews their license or if a new Florida resident gets a new Florida license, it will meet Real ID requirements. Simple to obtain.

We also have passports that allow us to travel outside the US.

My Florida DL has the Star, I picked it up in January when I was registering a vehicle. I had my Social Security Card, Passport, DD-214, etc.
As explained by the very friendly DMV employee my Florida License, the license can't be used to cross a border, but can be used as a Federally recognized form of Identification.

We had the passport card when we traveled back and forth to Canada, since moving to FL no longer have a need for the card. Just renewed by passport, maybe for the last time. Amazingly received it within 6 weeks. Inside the US the Real Id and TSA precheck will now make travel easy......no it won't, will still be a PITA but I can dream :)

TSA is only a headache in certain airports. Orlando was around 45 minutes, just in the TSA line. I was in and out of line at Bradley (Hartford CT) in just over 5 minutes. This doesn't include the couple minutes it takes to put your stuff on the conveyor and remember to take your belt off, and then the 10 minutes it takes to get all your stuff and put your clothes back on!

Just renewed our passports and card for the third time. In Michigan everyone has to switch to the new DL by 2020, even if you are not due to renew. Not sure what they look like, but will see by the end of the year.

If they do it the way most states have already done it, the main difference is the gold star on the upper right side of the front of the license that indicates the license is a federally recognized ID card. Most states make other, often more subtle changes every year, as a counterfeit prevention method.