Enhanced driving licenses
Additionally, some provinces and states (British Columbia, Manitoba, Michigan, New York, Ontario, Quebec, Vermont, and Washington) are issuing Enhanced Driver's Licenses, and enhanced ID cards [7]. Enhanced licenses essentially combine a regular driving license with the same specifications of the new US passport card. Thus in addition to proving driving privileges, the enhanced license also is proof of U.S. citizenship (for EDLs/EIDs issued in the US) or Canadian citizenship (for EDLs/EIDs issued in Canada), and can therefore be used to cross the US-Canadian and US-Mexican borders by road, rail, or sea, but not air (this will always require a traditional passport book) [8] The enhanced licenses are also fully Real ID compliant. These cards have RFID so they may be used at border crossings that have RFID readers.
On March 27, 2008, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced that Washington's enhanced driving license[9] was the first such license approved under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative;[10] according to a Homeland Security press release, the department is also working with Arizona, New York, and Vermont authorities to develop enhanced driving licenses.[11] On September 16, 2008, NYS began to issue WHTI-Compliant Enhanced driver licenses (EDL).[12] Texas was expected to also implement an enhanced driving license program, but the program has been blocked by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, despite a state law authorizing the Texas Department of Public Safety to issue EDLs and a ruling by the state attorney general, Greg Abbott, that Texas's production of EDLs would comply with federal requirements.[13][14]
