The GSN 2015 Digital Yearbook

GSN 2015 DIGITAL YEARBOOK OF HOMELAND SECURITY AWARDS RECIPIENTS
Most Notable State Government Program, Project or Initiative
California Department of Motor Vehicles,
Investigations Division
2015 Winner
Awards Category:
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Most Notable State Government Security Program/
Project or Initiative
Name of Nominated Product, Service,
or Program:
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California DMV Identity Management Program
Reason this entry deserves to win:
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In late 2013, the California state legislature passed a law
that went into effect on January 1st of this year. The law
allows applicants who are unable to provide satisfactory
proof that their presence in the U.S. is authorized under
federal law to receive an original driver’s license without
the fear of criminal repercussion. As a result of this legislation,
the number of Californians who have applied
for a driver’s license has exploded, with half a million
applications filed by April of 2015, double the number
of applications that the Department of Motor Vehicles
(DMV) originally anticipated. A great majority, 91% of
these applicants, are still providing the necessary identity
and residency documents, and 203,000 immigrants
had received their licenses by April 2015. While this
indicates substantial progress towards achieving Califor-
nia’s goal of accurately accounting for all residents with
driver’s licenses, it also can result in individuals trying
to beat the system by committing fraud or other crimes
to obtain driver’s licenses. In order to help crack down
on any undocumented immigrants who may wish to
remain undocumented for the furthering of criminal activities,
the California DMV’s Investigations Division has
implemented identity proofing solutions designed to
assist in verifying an individual’s identity. Identity proofing
integrates data and analytics for identity verification,
knowledge-based authentication and investigative information
into a sophisticated algorithm that generates a
true identity picture. Identity proofing makes intelligent
information connections beyond the obvious and draws
insights from public records data, while taking steps to
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