Baltimore city ID card program from 2016 may finally move forward

Seven years after it was first greenlighted, a program to develop Baltimore city ID cards will face a City Council committee hearing on Wednesday, according to Government Technology.

In 2016, the Baltimore City Council passed legislation to establish a city ID card program. Some argued that the cards would make it easier for those who have difficulty gathering legal documents to obtain federal IDs access to city-specific credentials.

The system would make obtaining a legal ID document easier for homeless people, immigrants, those recently released from incarceration, and women who are in domestic abuse situations where their documents needed to obtain an ID are being withheld.

The program also has the potential to cut down on unnecessary arrests by giving citations to citizens who can provide a city ID instead of apprehending them. While it was codified into city code, the program was never actually funded and implemented.

Other cities like Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles have begun their own ID card programs.

Immigration advocates say such a program will allow immigrants to more easily obtain an ID than with federal documents, which can have higher financial and language barriers to obtain. The program will also make it easier for transgender individuals to obtain IDs consistent with gender identities than passports and licenses that may require proof of name and gender changes.

Odette Ramos, a councilwoman who Government Technology reports frequently advocates for immigrants’ rights, introduced discussion on a resolution to revitalize the program in September 2022. The City Council’s Health, Environment, and Technology Committee will hold the discussion itself on Wednesday morning, with officials from the Office of Equity and Civil Rights and the mayor’s offices of Information Technology and Immigrant Affairs expected to attend, among others.

Article Topics

Baltimore  |  identity document  |  identity management  |  legal identity  |  United States