Question: When I went online to make an appointment for my elderly parent to renew her state ID, I could not get an appointment until April, but her ID expires at the end of December. As she is 91 years old, walking in without an appointment would not be feasible. What is the state doing to accommodate seniors or ill residents who can’t just sit and wait for hours at the facilities to renew their IDs? Since she doesn’t travel anymore, does she need this REAL ID?
Answer: Where are you trying to make the appointment? Kokua Line checked alohaq.honolulu.gov/?1 on Tuesday and found appointments available before your mom’s state ID expires at the Kapalama, Kapolei, Koolau, Pearl City and Waianae Driver’s License Centers, all of which also renew state IDs. Some had slots available this week.
By contrast, we wouldn’t advise anyone with that close a deadline to try making an appointment to renew a state ID at a satellite city hall, assuming that was where you were looking. Only four satellites even provide state ID renewal service — Downtown, Hawaii Kai, Pearlridge and Windward — and appointments book up months in advance. As of Tuesday the next available state ID renewal slot at those facilities ranged from February (Windward) to April (Downtown and Hawaii Kai).
Satellite city halls provide a variety of city services, which is why there are fewer driver’s license and state ID appointments than at the centers focused on these credentials.
To answer your other questions, the city does have special processes for incapacitated applicants, which we have written about before (see 808ne.ws/109kline), but they would not apply to your mom because she is able to get up and around; eligibility isn’t based on age. (To answer other readers’ questions, no, the city does not make driver’s license or state ID renewal appointments over the phone.)
No one is required to have a Hawaii state ID. However, if your mom wants to use her state ID for certain federal purposes as of October 2020, her ID will need the gold star, signifying that it complies with the U.S. REAL ID Act. The federal law imposes rules on states’ issuance of driver’s licenses and IDs used for certain federal purposes; the most publicized of those purposes is clearing the airport security line to board U.S. aircraft.
Whether to renew the ID is up to her, of course, but we advise readers not to give up a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license or state ID lightly. Don’t let credentials expire. When renewing, meet the highest standard for which you qualify. It is unclear at this point whether the scope of federal services or facilities requiring REAL ID compliance will expand beyond the commonly cited airport security lines, military bases and nuclear facilities.
Obtaining a state ID is not simple for many residents, as this reader described in a follow-up email. She explained that her mom lives in Kakaako but that she lives in California. The daughter was trying to make an appointment online at the Downtown Satellite City Hall, where her mom feels comfortable taking the bus. With no appointments available there until April, and her 91-year-old mom unable to wait who-knows-how-long as a walk-in, the daughter decided to make an appointment at a driver’s license center in December. She’ll be visiting Hawaii then, and plans to rent a car to drive her mom to the appointment.
These kinds of stories are not unusual, as people strive to fulfill federal requirements to prove they are who they are.
Mahalo
Mahalo to Robert — a very, very, very belated “thank you” for finding my car keys with the orange bracelet at the Longs in Makiki. — A very grateful person
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
