Special to the Portland Press Herald...

MAINE VOICES’: Real ID' licenses a really bad idea By State Sen. Libby Mitchell

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Recall the last time you went to a Bureau of Motor Vehicles office to renew your driver's license or get a new one.

Think about how much time you spent waiting your turn, line, filling out forms and jumping through bureaucratic hoops. Now take that time and double it. Then repeat the last step.

That's the situation we're all facing if the Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 without debate or hearings, is implemented in Maine.

"Real ID" mandates that by 2008 Maine turn its driver's license into a national ID card that will be part of a 50-state shared database.

The card that was once used to prove an individual was safe to drive will now be used as an "internal passport" that can be used to track an individual's movement and activities.
Those without the federally regulated card will be unable to board a plane or enter a federal building, and those who have discrepancies or cannot verify their source documents ¬ individuals who have changed their last names, lost birth certificates due to floods, or were born in another country ¬ will be caught in bureaucratic limbo, unable to drive or travel.

State licensing officials across the country have described this program as a "nightmare" and called the May 2008 deadline "impossible" to meet.

The burdens of compliance are onerous: Every single person will have to show up to the BMV with documents proving they are who they say they are, and licensing officials will then have to verify those documents. Then, individuals will have to return on another day to pick up their license. All this means longer waits and higher fees.

But that's not all. In addition to creating more red tape, Real ID is an unfunded mandate.
According to Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, "Organizations such as the National Governor's Association, National Conference of State Legislatures, and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators have estimated initial costs of the Real ID Act to be around $11 billion. Maine's share of those costs is around $185 million over the first five years."

Dunlap added, "This is more than six times the annual budget for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, and none of these costs are addressed by the federal government. Left unfunded, this could mean substantial increases in customer fees."
So, what do we get for all this money? Security experts agree that Real ID will do nothing to prevent terrorism, but will make ordinary Americans more vulnerable to invasions of privacy and identity theft.

Real ID requires that each state open up the records on all its licensed drivers to all other states, creating a single, interlinked database that will contain all your personal information.

This information will also be encoded on a "machine-readable zone" on the card, allowing businesses to pick up sensitive data about you every time they swipe or scan your ID.

Both the database and the machine-readable zone will be irresistible temptations for criminals ¬ one-stop shops for bad actors who will be able to use them to steal your identity.

Maine should be a leader in saying no to this unfunded, bureaucratic nightmare. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree and I have introduced a resolution stating that the state of Maine protests the treatment by Congress and the president of our state as an agent of the federal government.

Therefore, our state refuses to implement the Real ID Act and will not spend any taxpayer dollars or other revenues on implementing Real ID.

Real ID is bad for our country and it's bad for our state. I hope that my colleagues will join with us in fighting to keep Real ID out of Maine.