Can I see some ID? Pennsylvanians could be using mobile ID on their phones soon

Pulled over or getting ID’d at the bar and you forgot your wallet? Soon, you may be able to just take out your smartphone to show ID in Pennsylvania.

This could be a reality as interest is brewing for a digital driver’s license from both state legislators and PennDOT. Mobile ID and digital records have become more common in the U.S. with states like Arizona, Delaware and Maryland, along with others, adopting digital driver’s licenses. Additionally, many states and cities developed digital vaccine cards for residents to use in lieu of paper records.

Earlier in January, Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Miller (D-Allegheny) sent a memo to other house members stating he would be re-introducing legislation that would give residents the option of downloading a digitized version of their state driver’s license through a phone app. Miller has introduced this bill in the past but the idea didn’t garner enough support.

“The reality of it is more and more people are relying on this type of digital tool, from carrying health-related and financial information to being able to comply for identification requirements — it just makes sense,” Miller said. “There’s no Democrat or Republican side to this. It’s just convenient and something that could be done safely and securely as well.”

The Inquirer spoke with the state representative introducing the bill to see what a digital driver’s license could look like for Pennsylvanians.

Mobile ID — also known as a mobile or digital driver’s license — is a secured digitized version of your regular state identification that can be accessed from a mobile phone. Similar to the way apps like Apple Wallet and Google Wallet allow you to access your credit cards via mobile app, mobile ID is an app that can store and display your state ID on your phone, whenever you need it.

The upsides of digital driver’s licenses are an ID that can’t be lost or stolen and can be updated more easily as long as you have your phone.The flip side is if someone’s phone is lost, stolen, damaged, or out of power, the ID can’t be used. As mobile ID systems currently stand, residents are still issued their physical ID — digital driver’s licenses are just an additional option.

Currently, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Maryland, Oklahoma and Utah all provide a form of mobile ID, with states like New Jersey and California working to roll out a similar product soon.

In his memo to colleagues, Miller suggested that members of the House look at states like Louisiana’s mobile ID system — the state that initially inspired Miller to bring the idea to Pennsylvania in 2016. In Louisiana, they developed their own mobile app that residents can download and use to drive, have interactions with police and make age-restricted purchases. They still issue physical IDs too.

While it’s taken the better half of a decade to try and get the bill passed in Pennsylvania, Miller sees this as a positive because now there are almost a dozen other states to take notes from. Some states have partnered with Apple to integrate IDs into Apple Wallet, others developed in-house apps, and a few states have utilized established third-party apps like Mobile ID by Idemia.

According to Miller, the key part of Pennsylvania’s mobile ID legislation is to give PennDOT the ability to figure out what works best for them as they will be responsible for overseeing and implementing the system. PennDOT has already touted the idea and said they are “exploring the concept.” Of course, they can’t move forward in any capacity without legislators passing a law first.

If the bill is passed by Pennsylvania congress this year, Miller expects there to be a 12-month implementation period before the system officially rolls out to all residents. In that case, Pennsylvanians could see a digital driver’s license in the next two years.

Miller said he plans to reintroduce the mobile ID bill to the PA House when they reconvene for the 2023 session, which officially starts in late February. While the bill hasn’t passed before, he believes there is more interest now to collaborate and work on a concept that works for everyone.

“I’ve introduced this every term for the last couple terms,” Miller said. “We are finding that PennDOT recently just expressed a little greater interest in the idea, so we want to try to work with them. I’m not wedded to what I have written over the last couple terms, it’s more of a concept. So we are working with [PennDOT] to craft something that they can support more readily.”