New identification requirements are coming for people who want to renew their driver’s licenses.

We ran a story Monday about the changes, but it bears repeating, particularly since both the state and our newsroom have gotten calls with more questions.

As of March 5, people seeking a learner’s permit or license renewal must provide a valid or certified copy of their Social Security card, as well as documents that provide your legal name, date of birth and legal presence.

Those documents can include:

» A valid U.S. passport.

» Original or certified copy of a birth certificate.

» Valid permanent resident card issued by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (Form I-551).

» Certificate of naturalization issued by the Department of Homeland Security (Form N-550).

A full list of verifiable documents is at hawaii.gov/dot. Click on the banner that screams "Hawaii’s Legal Presence Law."

The requirements are part of a federal post-Sept. 11, 2001, action to strengthen the reliability of state-issued identification. But even after the story and the public outreach, there are still a lot of questions. State Department of Transportation spokesman Dan Meisenzahl said he’s been fielding calls all week from people with legitimate questions and people amusingly accusing the affable Meisenzahl of being party to the 9/11 conspiracy.

One reader asked whether similar requirements will be in place for getting a state identification card. In fact, similar requirements have been in place for ID cards for some time.

Another reader, 85-year-old World War II veteran Rod Hamel, asked why his discharge papers after his years in the Navy wouldn’t count as valid identification. He renewed his license last week to avoid having to hunt down other documents.

"I would think that if you fought in a couple of wars, that your discharge papers would indicate your presence in the U.S.," says Hamel. "It’s just a matter of principle."

It should be all fine as long as you have documents that show four things: legal name, date of birth, Social Security number and legal presence.

In the coming weeks, the state will launch a new website that will ask a number of questions (such as "Were you born in a foreign country on a U.S. military base?) and, based on your answers, will tell you what documents you need.

"The big message is, we want people to be aware of it so they can gather the documents," Meisenzahl says.

Reach Gene Park at gpark@staradvertiser.com, or Twitter as @GenePark.