BUFFALO, N.Y. — Numerous agencies impacted in the battle over New York's Green Light Law are reacting as the issue heads to court.
The latest development occurred on Monday when New York State filed a lawsuit against the federal government, which last week suspended New Yorkers from applying for and renewing in Trusted Traveler programs, such as Nexus and Fast.
The battle between New York State and the federal government over the Green Light Law won't hurt the vast majority of travelers on Tuesday, or even the day after that, at local airports and international bridges. But if this fight drags out, wait times at our ports of entry could rise.
"The decision to prevent State of New York residents from applying for and renewing participation in these Trusted Travelers programs will adversely affect Peace Bridge operations, reduce border efficiency and negatively affect national security," said Ken Manning, the vice chairman of the Peace Bridge Board of Directors.
As for wait times...
"It's clearly going to have an impact how we measure that we'll have to see going forward, but the ultimate impact is clear but the proportion I can't give you today," Manning said.
The NFTA describes what could happen at the Niagara Falls and Buffalo airports.
"Over time having to push people into the other normal entry points at the airport certainly will impact travel, it will impact wait time and it will become a deterrent for folks from Canada using the airport," said Kim Minkel, the executive director of the NFTA.
And for federal law enforcement agencies, such as Customs and Border Protection, the concern is clear.
They say they're not getting vehicle registration information from the DMV of New York plated cars, because the Green Light Law prohibits access to such information.
"They can't even identify who the registered owner of the vehicle is, they can't run that person's license plate or that person's license to know whether they have any pending warrants against them, it's an extremely dangerous situation," said James Kennedy, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York. "For 49 other states they can access that information they can't access it from one state and that's the State of New York."
According to officials, state and local police agencies continue to receive vehicle registration information because they're not subject to the same restrictions.
In the end, agencies from the NFTA to CBP to the Peace Bridge Authority, hope some sort of resolution or compromise comes out of this.
The Niagara County Clerk's Office says people who are planning to travel when Real ID takes effect in October, may want to think about getting a passport, just in case Real ID for New Yorkers is suspended, like the Trusted Traveler program has.
