I’ve been informed by a very reliable individual that if we want to prohibit Real ID in Pennsylvania, and protect our privacy from an intrusive Federal government, we need to send hundreds if not thousands of letters to our individual Representatives and Senators and to the leadership in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in our Commonwealth Capitol. Otherwise, the bills may very likely die in committee.
Therefore, I am writing this correspondence asking for your assistance in mailing a letter, sending an e-mail and making phone calls to Harrisburg to the Leadership in both the House and the Senate. I’ll provide a link to the key Senators and Representatives which contain their e-mails, mailing addresses and phone numbers. Time is running out. The legislature will again be engrossed in the budget process in the near future.
In addition, I’m providing (6) short letters/emails for both Senators and Representatives from which you can pick and choose to include in your letter and e-mail to our elected officials. Or, you may write you own, or cut and paste as you wish. Please copy your own Senator or Representative on your correspondence.
I’ll include this email as an attachment. Let’s spread it far and wide.
If you remember last year, our legislators passed the puppy-mill statute. The bill flew through both the House and Senate when the emails, letters, and calls flooded the Capitol. I hate to say it, but that’s what it will take to prohibit Real ID in Pennsylvania and stop PennDOT from capturing biometric data on us.
I know you are onboard and will take action.
Yours in Liberty,
Jim Compton
P.S. The Pennsylvania Legislature will return to Harrisburg on 19 April 2010, the same day citizens will delivered the Articles of Freedom to their elected officials.
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The Senate leadership includes:
Senator Jake Corman - Chair of the Appropriations Committee where Senate Bills 621, 622, and 623 sit.
Senate Box 203034
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3034
Phone: (717) 787-1377
E-mail address:
jcorman@pasen.gov
Senator Dominic Pileggi - Appropriations Committee, ex-officio Address:
Senate Box 203009
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3009
Phone: (717) 787-4712
E-mail:
dpileggi@pasen.gov
Senator Joseph B. Scarnati III - President Pro Tempore and Member ex-officio of all Standing Committees
Senate Box 203025
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3025
Phone: (717) 787-7084
E-Mail:
jscarnati@pasen.gov
The House Leadership includes:
Representative Lawrence H. Curry – Chair of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee where House Bills 1443 and 1752 sit. (Prohibits Real ID and prevents government agencies from collecting biometric data when we have done nothing wrong)
26B East Wing
PO Box 202154
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2154
Phone: (717) 783-1079
E-mail:
http://www.pahouse.com/contact/viaLDPC.asp?district=154
Representative Joseph F. Markoesek - Chair of the Transportation Committee where House Bill 1867 which protects privacy of data on our driver’s license.
314 Irvis Office Building
PO Box 202025
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2025
Phone: (717) 783-1012
E-mail:
http://www.pahouse.com/contact/viaLDPC.asp?district=25
Representative Todd E. Eachus – Majority Leader
110 Main Capitol Building
PO Box 202116
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2116
Phone: (717) 787-2229
E-mail:
http://www.pahouse.com/contact/viaLDPC.asp?district=116
Representative Mark B. Cohen - Majority Whip
6001 North 5th Street
Second Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19120
Phone: (215) 924-0895
E-mail:
http://www.pahouse.com/contact/viaLDPC.asp?district=202
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Dear Senator _____________,
I understand the Senate Bills 621, 622, and 623 are in the Appropriations Committee and expect those bills to be sent to the Senator Floor for passage. Passage of these bills will ensure our right to privacy.
The Real ID Act of 20005 is unconstitutional. It violates our right to privacy, subjects us to identity thief, and violates the religious freedom clause of our Declaration of Rights. PennDOT has been implementing benchmarks of Real ID and it must stop. Protect our privacy!
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Dear Senator _________________
Let’s pass Senate Bills 621, 622, and 623. Our federal government is out of control and we expect our state elected officials to stand up to the federal government and just say NO, not in Pennsylvania. We also expect our privacy to be upheld.
The Real ID Act violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Printz v. United States (95-1478), 521 U.S. 898 (1997), the Supreme Court stated: “We held in New York that Congress cannot compel the States to enact or enforce a federal regulatory program. Today we hold that Congress cannot circumvent that prohibition by conscripting the State's officers directly. The Federal Government may neither issue directives requiring the States to address particular problems, nor command the States' officers, or those of their political subdivisions, to administer or enforce a federal regulatory program. It matters not whether policymaking is involved, and no case by case weighing of the burdens or benefits is necessary; such commands are fundamentally incompatible with our constitutional system of dual sovereignty.
The federal government cannot compel PennDOT officials to implement Real ID and capture biometric data on citizens who have done nothing worthy of being treated as criminals.
*********************************************************
Dear Senator _________________
The Real ID Act of 2005 violates our right to privacy. It is a slap in the face of freedom. It was concocted the same time as the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America published its report to Leaders in 2005. In the reported section titled, Biometrics and secure documentation vision, they stated, “We will devise a single, integrated global enrollment program for North American trusted traveler programs within the next 36 months.”
That program for the US is the Real ID Act of 2005. Real ID was to be fully implemented by May 2008, but was delayed until December 2009, and has now been extended until May of 2011. However, PennDOT is implementing benchmarks of Real ID to include capturing biometric data for facial recognition software and including our Social Security Numbers in their unsecured database along with our name, address, and date of birth.
Let’s get Senate Bills 621, 622, and 623 out to the Appropriation Committee and passed on the Senate Floor.
*********************************************************
Dear Senator _________________,
Fourteen states have passed statutes prohibiting implementation of the Real ID Act of 2005 in their states. Why haven’t we joined them? We all know that Real ID is a violation of the United States and the Pennsylvania Constitutions.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…. [First Amendment United States Constitution].
The right of the people to be secure in their persons … against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated… [Fourth Amendment United States Constitution].
The people shall be secure in their persons… [Article I, Section8, Pennsylvania Constitution].
No human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience… [Article I, Section 3, Pennsylvania Constitution].
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people. [Tenth Amendment, United States Constitution]
Let’s get Senate Bills 621, 622, and 623 out of the Appropriations Committee and to the Senate Floor to protect our rights to privacy. PennDOT is currently subjecting us to identity theft and that needs to stop now.
****************************************************
Dear Senator _____________________
We, the citizens of this Commonwealth, expect our elected officials to uphold their oath of office. Our Declaration of Rights as described in Article I of the Pennsylvania Constitution is to be protected at all cost. [Section 25]
The Real ID Act of 2005, along with PennDOT, violates our God given Rights to privacy and religious freedoms.
Let’s get Senate Bills 621, 622, and 623 out of the Appropriations Committee. These bills cost the state nothing, in fact, the result in passing these bills will reduce PennDOT’s operating expenses.
In addition, just because PennDOT thinks implementing benchmarks of Real ID will make their job easier, it does not give them the right to violate our rights. They must work within the limits addressed in the Declaration of Rights.
**************************************************************
Dear Senator ________________________
The Real ID Act of 2005 is a violation of fundamental law, i.e., the US and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Constitutions. It violates our religious freedom, our right to privacy, the Tenth Amendment, and subjects us to identity theft.
In the very first Supreme Court Decision, Marbury v. Madison, Judge Marshall stated as the opinion of the Court,
“It is also not entirely unworthy of observation that, in declaring what shall be the supreme law of the land, the Constitution itself is first mentioned, and not the laws of the United States generally, but those only which shall be made in pursuance of the Constitution, have that rank.”
“Thus, the particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written Constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”
Fourteen states have already passed statutes prohibiting Real ID in their states due to its unconstitutional mandates.
Any argument that the Legislature has to have someone determine if the Real ID Act of 2005 is constitutional is absurd. As the first Supreme Court stated”, … that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”, it becomes clear that everyone is responsible for reading the Constitution and ensuring that statutes adhere to it. The Real ID Act of 2005 does not.
Let’s get Senate Bills, 621, 623, and 623 out of the Appropriations Committee and passed to stop Homeland Security and PennDOT from violating our God given rights.
Dear Representative ________________________
The Real ID Act of 2005 is a violation of fundamental law, i.e., the US and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Constitutions. It violates our religious freedom, our right to privacy, the Tenth Amendment, and subjects us to identity theft.
In the very first Supreme Court Decision, Marbury v. Madison, Judge Marshall stated as the opinion of the Court,
“It is also not entirely unworthy of observation that, in declaring what shall be the supreme law of the land, the Constitution itself is first mentioned, and not the laws of the United States generally, but those only which shall be made in pursuance of the Constitution, have that rank.”
“Thus, the particular phraseology of the Constitution of the United States confirms and strengthens the principle, supposed to be essential to all written Constitutions, that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument.”
Fourteen states have already passed statutes prohibiting Real ID in their states due to its unconstitutional mandates.
Any argument that the Legislature has to have someone determine whether or not the Real ID Act of 2005 is constitutional is absurd. As the first Supreme Court stated”, … that a law repugnant to the Constitution is void, and that courts, as well as other departments, are bound by that instrument,” it becomes clear that everyone is responsible for reading the Constitution and ensuring that statutes adhere to it. The Real ID Act of 2005 does not.
Let’s get House Bills 1443 and 1752 out of the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee and House Bill 1867 out of the Transportation Committee and onto the House Floor and passed to stop Homeland Security and PennDOT from violating our God given rights to privacy.
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