City of Rochester looks to add municipal identification cards

(ABC 6 News) – The Rochester Public Library is looking to begin offering municipal identification cards.

Municipal identification cards are a form of I.D. issued by a city rather than a state or federal government.

Cities can issue their own identification cards as they see fit, and do not have to consider the immigration or criminal status of an applicant before doing so.

The benefits of these I.D.’s are they are affordable, and they can be used to pick up some prescriptions and get checks from some banks. The cards also allow people to use their preferred name.

"People like refugees from foreign countries, those are people that have a really hard time getting ahold of identification. People who aren’t eligible for driver’s licenses, some people with disabilities that are living on a really fixed income would also benefit from this," Andrew Stehr, the circulation services manager for Rochester Public Library, said.

The city would operate the process, but the library has the printer for the I.D.’s.