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Last updated on Friday, January 30, 2015
(INDIANAPOLIS) - The Indiana House Roads and Transportation Committee approved a bill Wednesday allowing a religious exemption from photographs on state identification cards for the Amish.
Under the exemption, a photo-less identification would be issued.
Indiana Representative Greg Beumer introduced the no-photo bill in the state capitol.
Beumer's HB 1498 would require the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to issue identification cards without a photograph if the applicant has a sincerely held religious objection to the taking of a photograph.
The General Assembly's fear in the past is the state might lose some federal highway funding if they provide a photo-less ID.
Beumer says instead, a digital image using facial recognition technology would be kept on record.
Representative Robert Morris of Fort Wayne says the state's Amish population can't access outside businesses like banks and pharmacies without some kind of state identification.
But, opponents say they fear an increase in the use of false or fake IDs, and businesses would have no way of determining the IDs' authenticity.
The bill now heads to the full house for a vote.
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