To amend the REAL ID Act of 2005 to allow States to determine whether to require licenses and other identification to list a gender or sex, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Norton (for herself and Mr. Frost) introduced the following …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill amends the REAL ID Act of 2005 to give states the choice of whether to include gender or sex information on driver's licenses and identification cards. If a state chooses to include this field, it must offer an "unspecified" or "other" option beyond just male or female, and cannot require documentation like a doctor's note for someone to select their designation.
Who Benefits and How
LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly transgender and non-binary people, benefit from this bill because it removes barriers to obtaining identification that reflects their identity. They would no longer need medical documentation to select their gender on state IDs, and would have access to non-binary options. State governments also benefit from increased flexibility to set their own policies on gender identification requirements.
Who Bears the Burden and How
There are no significant new costs or compliance burdens imposed by this bill. States that already require binary gender designations may need to update their systems to accommodate the new options, but this is a one-time administrative adjustment rather than an ongoing burden.
Key Provisions
- Removes the current federal requirement that state IDs display gender, making it optional for states
- Requires states that include gender on IDs to offer "unspecified" or "other" designations in addition to male and female
- Prohibits states from requiring additional documentation (such as a doctor's note) for a person to indicate their gender designation
- Updates cross-references in the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007 to reflect the amended section numbering
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill amends the REAL ID Act of 2005 to give states the authority to decide whether gender or sex information is required on driver's licenses and identification cards, allowing for unspecified or other designations beyond male or female.
Policy Domains
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The official name of the bill, used for citation purposes.
Amends Section 202(b) of the REAL ID Act, allowing states to determine gender/sex field inclusion on licenses and IDs.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
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