If any men forgot to send in the Selective Service registration cards on their eighteenth birthday, don’t worry. The state of Ohio has a new idea to get everyone signed up.
All 18-to-25-year-old males living in the state will soon be automatically registered with the nation’s Selective Service System when they apply for or renew their driver’s license.
House Bill 46, approved by the Ohio Senate last week, requires the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to forward the personal information of any eligible individual applying for a driver’s license, permit or identification card to the Selective Service System. An application for a license or permit automatically implies a person’s consent for this action, according to the language in the bill.
The Selective Service System was established in 1940 to collect the names and information of eligible men that would be selected through a draft to serve in the nation’s armed forces. Though the draft ended after the Vietnam War in 1973, federal law still requires virtually all men between 18 and 25 years old to register with the agency.
“We were looking for an automatic way to help draft age young men in our state comply with federal law.” said State Sen. David Goodman, R-Bexley, the main sponsor of the bill.
“In Ohio, approximately 8,000 men of draft age don’t comply,” he said. “Most of them don’t do it because they didn’t know they were supposed to. That’s a problem.”
Goodman said failure to register with the Selective Service System is considered a felony, punishable by up to $250,000 in fines and five years in prison. While rarely prosecuted, an individual that fails to register will be exempt from seeking a future federal government job or from requesting federal grants or loans to help pay for college, he added.
The new system will be completely automatic and one can not opt out of sending the information, Goodman said.
Individuals would, however, be notified at the time of their license application or renewal that the information being provided to the BMV will be forwarded to the Selective Service System, noted Goodman. This information will not be forwarded on to any other agency.
According to the Selective Service System’s Internet Web site, 11 other states have enacted similar legislation connecting registration with an application for a driver’s license.
House Bill 46, which was first introduced into the General Assembly this past January, is now awaiting Governor Bob Taft’s signature to become law.
Attempts to reach a BMV spokeswoman for comment on the legislation were unsuccessful.
