TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online
State Threatens Port Business With Duplicative ID Mandate
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Published: May 1, 2008
With its economy in the doldrums, the last thing Florida should be doing is making it more costly and complicated to do business at its ports.
Yet lawmakers appear intent on making Florida the only state in the nation that will require port workers to possess both a federal identification card and a state identification card.
The situation is ludicrous.
Both the federal and state systems require similar background checks. The Florida process might turn up a few names not on the FBI's national list, but these individuals aren't likely to be criminal heavyweights.
And as Richard Wainio, director of the Port of Tampa, points out, those with serious records are not likely to undergo the background check anyway: "They are not going to know whether they are on the national database or not."
Yet the state is insisting port users carry both the Florida Uniform Port Access Credential and the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential.
Each one costs about $130 to administer. The federal ID is good for five years, the state's only four.
Port officials estimate some 350,000 workers will need identification at Florida ports. At the Port of Tampa, about 35,000 workers will need an identification card.
So the duplicative requirement is going to hit businesses and individuals hard. It will particularly sting small businesses and independent truckers.
Such costs can be a factor when it comes to companies deciding whether to operate in Florida.
And the double IDs will not improve port security. An ID is, after all, just one feature of a series of security measures, which includes fencing, enhanced lighting, monitoring and rigorous law enforcement patrols.
Not detecting the truck driver who failed to pay a traffic ticket in Collier County is not going to put our ports in jeopardy.
Moreover, the federal requirement covers workers at all Florida ports, including those that are privately owned. The Florida ID covers only its 14 public ports.
The state deserves credit for adopting tough port security measures, including the ID mandate, well before the federal government. The effort was aimed primarily at drug smugglers.
So the state was already moving to beef up port safeguards when the 9/11 terrorist attack made the issue a national concern.
Even after 9/11, it took Washington a while to develop a coherent security strategy. Meanwhile, Florida already had implemented an ID system.
That made sense then. It doesn't now, when the feds have implemented a comprehensive ID requirement.
Any recognition Tallahassee deserves for being proactive on port security will be erased if lawmakers cling to a costly government mandate that has become irrelevant.
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