The Transportation Security Administration on Thursday announced standards for an ID card that frequent fliers can buy to get through security lines faster at airports.
The announcement comes nearly five years after Congress first authorized the program, two years after the TSA first tested it and three months after it was supposed to start.
The public has two weeks to comment on the standards, which are only in draft form.
The program, called "Registered Traveler," would establish airport-security fast lanes for those who pay a fee, pass a government background check and submit 10 fingerprints.
In addition to the annual membership fee, which is likely to be about $100, the TSA estimates a background check will cost another $100.
The standards cover information security, enrollment, verification and privacy, the TSA said.
A year ago, the TSA stopped testing the program except in Orlando, Fla.
TSA chief Kip Hawley decided to turn the program over to the private sector. Airport participation is voluntary.
Hawley has said the program isn't a top priority for the agency, but it has been important to private companies eager to profit from selling identification cards.
Companies such as Verified Identity Pass, started by media entrepreneur Steven Brill, seek to install a system of private security passes at airports across the nation.
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