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Kokua Line

By June Watanabe

Thursday, June 29, 2000

New rules Monday
for state ID card

Question: I understand there will be changes made to the state ID card. What are they?

Answer: The governor recently OK'd four major changes state legislators made to the law "relating to certificates of identification," especially relating to senior citizens.

Beginning Monday:

The $15 fee will drop to $10 for people 65 and older.

Cards issued after Nov. 1, 1998, for people aged 65 and older can be renewed by mail if there is no change in name and citizenship. The same will be true for people with physical or mental disabilities, although the rules for this are still being worked out, said Liane Moriyama, who oversees the state ID card system as administrator of the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center.

Expiration dates will coincide with birthdays, but still be six years after the year issued.

To provide for the transition to birthday expiration dates, ID cards with nonbirthday dates will expire on the holder's "last birthday immediately preceding the certificate's stated expiration date."

To help people remember when to renew, reminders will be mailed, Moriyama said.

Until 1997, there was no expiration date on state ID cards. Beginning that year, all new cards were good for six years from the date of issue. Cards without expirations all expired at the end of 1999.

Because of the Dec. 31, 1999, expiration for many card-holders, the state ID office was besieged with long lines for much of 1999.

"We don't want the public and staff to have to live through another 1999," Moriyama said. "If we didn't make this change (to birthday dates), in 2005, we're going to have the same situation."

The good news is that "the worse is over," Moriyama said. The average wait now is 30 to 60 minutes to get a card, or at least, "easily under an hour."

Auwe

To the heartless clod who abandoned a mother cat and 4 newborn kittens in a parking lot. Is there anyone out there who could give them a home? They're only a month old so the humane society won't take them. I can have them sterilized. Call 734-3358. -- Barbara

Mahalo

To Jennifer Beaulieu of the Hawaiian Humane Society's education department for teaching my special eduction students the importance of having respect and compassion for all living things. I truly believe that there would be less school violence if more students saw her presentation. -- Bill Lee, Castle High School

Auwe

I received a cartoon from Easter Seals illustrating the message "We've sorted the mail ... checked our records ... but your gift hasn't arrived!" With a limited income, it makes me feel awful enough that I can't give, but to receive that cartoon was downright ... I have no words to explain it. Since January, I have received appeals from so many organizations that I am flabbergasted, including: Alzheimer's, 9; Arthritis, 2; March of Dimes, 2; Kapiolani, 1; Cancer Society, 4; Cancer Research, 5; Cystic Fibrosis, 1; Easter Seals, 5; Japanese Cultural, 2; Heart Association, 6; Diabetes, 2; American Lung, 4; Glaucoma, 1; M.S., 2; Animal League, 1; ASPCA, 1; Hawaiian Humane Society, 1; River of Life, 2; Habilitat, 1; Feed the Poor, 1; Feed the Children, 3; Appalachian, 3; Hospitalized Vets, 8; DAV, 4; American Vets, 3; Blind Vets, 2; Paralyzed Vets, 3. How would you feel when you receive all these solicitations and all you can feel is the bottom of your empty purse. -- No name

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