You won’t need a Real ID to board a flight if you have other accepted ID

Q. Hi Honk: One more question about the Real ID. I have a U.S. passport and a passport card. I am wondering if the passport card is acceptable ID for flying domestically? Or will I have to apply for the Real ID card?

– Robert King, Huntington Beach

A. First off, when the new federal law kicks in on Oct. 1, 2020, the key is you need an ID accepted by the United States government to go certain places if you are age 18 or older, such as for boarding a domestic flight or entering a federal military base or a U.S. courthouse. Homer Simpson will need such an ID, as one will be required by Uncle Sam to go onto the grounds of a nuclear power plant as well.

RELATED: These new driving laws start Jan. 1, 2020

Making a drivers license a Real ID is a matter of convenience: Other common, and not-so-common, IDs will be equally accepted by the feds.

They include: a U.S. passport, a U.S. passport card, U.S. Department of Defense IDs (including those issued to dependents), a passport from a foreign government, and several types of IDs that even Honk, with all of his wisdom, had never heard of.

So Robert you are good to go with your U.S. passport card.

Q. I would like to buy an early 1990s Jaguar XJS. The engines in the Jags are not that bad, but when they break down they cost a small fortune to repair because of their exotic nature. There is a company online that supplies all of the necessary parts to make a conversion from the Jag engine and transmission to a Chevy V-eight and transmission. Problem solved. But would that be OK with the Department of Motor Vehicles? Would it cause any problems when getting a smog check?

– John MacWillie, Westminster 

A. John, Honk reached out to the state’s Bureau of Automotive Repair, and the spokesman said there are guidelines for what he called the “confusing aspects of a project like this.” Honk works hard to make his readers’ lives better, not to give them migraines, so he will privately pass along the details he gathered about winning approval. But for others here are the basics:

• The two vehicles getting married must be of the same weight class.
• If the body is California certified, meaning the state has approved its exhaust and emissions system, then it can only accept a state-certified engine. If the body has federal certification, you can put a fed- or state-certified engine in that baby.
• If the engine is meant to have the second generation of on-board self-diagnostic equipment, the whole system must function.
• Then, you need a referee to check it all out; some community colleges offer state-approved refs.

Honk hopes that when your car passes inspection, John, the ref tosses his hands up as if you scored a touchdown – after everything you have to go through, you will deserve a good chuckle.

Honkin’ facts: These new laws took effect on Wednesday with the new year:

• It is now against the law to sell a Department of Motor Vehicles appointment. An Oakland startup, YoGov, had charged $25 to go online and get you an appointment, which can take repeated tries because of high demand; it also offered to have someone wait in line for you until the stand-in gets close to the counter and then you would step in. Assemblyman Tyler Diep, R-Westminster, helped craft the new law because, as he put it last year to The Orange County Register, the appointments should be totally free, and he didn’t like the cut-in-line aspect of the service.
• A judge can no longer take away driving privileges from someone convicted of a non-driving crime, such as for prostitution or vandalism.
• Trash trucks with flashing amber lights must be treated like emergency vehicles: When drivers approach one that is stopped, they must safely move over a lane, if possible, or slow down.

To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.