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Maine Says "No Thanks" to Federal Real ID Act from Bangor Daily News.
Maine says 'no thanks' to ID Act
By The Associated Press
Friday, January 26, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA - The Maine Legislature registered nearly unanimous opposition Thursday to the federal Real ID Act, which requires states to change their drivers’ licenses so they can be used as national identification cards linked to a central database.
Supporters of a nonbinding resolution say the program would cost Maine taxpayers $185 million over the first five years and invite identity theft.
The resolution asks Congress to repeal the law, which takes effect next year, and says "the Maine Legislature refuses to implement the Real ID Act of 2005." It passed 34-0 in the Senate and 137-4 in the House of Representatives.
Copies were to be sent to President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other federal and state officials.
The resolution had the support of diverse advocacy groups, including the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute.
Jim Harper of the Cato Institute warned that negative consequences of a national ID card would be "profound."
"Lawful trade and travel would be disrupted for ID checks, at a substantial cost to both liberty and commerce. What little benefits we’d reap would not be worth the price," said Harper.
Shenna Bellows of the MCLU derided Real IDs as "a one-stop shop for identity thieves" because they would have to include coded addresses that could be read by someone with a scanner. Bellows said several other states are considering following Maine’s example.
"I think there’s going to be a huge snowball of these" resolutions, she said.
Members of the National Conference of State Legislatures voted during an annual meeting in August to approve a resolution to demand that Congress either find a way to pay for the Real ID Act or repeal it by the end of 2007. The law is due to take effect in 2008.
At the time, Chertoff sought to ease worries about the law, saying there was no intent to create "a big brother" approach or create a federal database of drivers’ personal information.
The law was motivated by the Sept. 11 terrorists who used legitimate driver’s licenses before the 2001 attacks. It seeks to unify the patchwork of state licensing rules and make it harder to obtain a card fraudulently. Now, Chertoff said, hundreds of kinds of IDs are used to allow people to cross borders.
In Maine, House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, acknowledged that the resolution passed Thursday is not binding. She said the language saying the state refuses to comply with the law "is more expressing our feeling and intent that we’re not interested in following through."
But Pingree added that a companion piece of legislation yet to be voted on directs the secretary of state, who administers licensing laws, not to comply. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has said the law would be costly and difficult to implement.
Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Libby Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, sponsor of the resolution, said Real ID "will do nothing to make us safer, but it is our job as state legislators to protect the people of Maine from just this sort of dangerous federal mandate."
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Maine Becomes First State in Nation to Reject Real ID from Maine Civil Liberties Union.
Maine Becomes First State in Nation to Reject Real ID
Legislature Passes a Resolution Refusing to Implement the National ID Card
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Augusta- Maine became the first state in the nation to reject the federal Real ID Act today. The Legislature voted this morning in favor of a resolution refusing to implement the Real ID Act. The Senate vote was unanimous while only four members of the House voted in opposition. At a press conference today, the bipartisan sponsors of the resolution celebrated a victory that they say will save Mainers from paying millions of dollars to fund the program, becoming easy targets for identity theft, and dealing with endless bureaucratic snafus.
The Real ID Act, which mandates that by 2008 states turn their driver’s licenses into national ID cards that will be part of a 50-state shared database, faced broad bipartisan opposition in Maine.
“The federal government may be willing to burden us with the high costs of a program that will do nothing to make us safer, but it is our job as state Legislators to protect the people of Maine from just this sort of dangerous federal mandate,” said Senate Majority Leader Libby Mitchell (D- Augusta), the lead sponsor of the resolution in the Senate. “As a Mainer, I am proud that this state has led the way in taking a stand against Real ID.”
“The broad bipartisan opposition in Maine to Real ID shows just how problematic the law is,” said Representative Scott Lansley (R- Sabattus), the lead sponsor of the resolution in the House. “It wouldn’t make any sense to implement a program that is opposed by so many people from both sides of the aisle and doesn’t seem to have any real benefits for the people of Maine.”
Real ID has gained the ire of privacy advocates, who say linking driver’s licenses and state ID cards to a national database will create a goldmine of accessible information for identity thieves. The Real ID Act requires the cards to include a computer-readable zone, which privacy advocates say will allow anyone with a reader to collect the personal identifying information of anyone with a card.
“Real ID is a real privacy nightmare,” said House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree (D- North Haven), a sponsor of the resolution. “It won’t make us any safer, but it could make us vulnerable to identity theft.”
Real ID has also caused concern over the amount it will cost states in taxpayer dollars. While the Real ID Act is a federal law, it doesn’t come with federal appropriations. In order to adopt Real ID, states will need new technology and an increase in Bureau of Motor Vehicle workers. Experts have estimated the initial cost of implementing the system at $11 billion to the states, and Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said the cost to Maine would be $185 million over the first five years.
“Real ID means huge costs, huge bureaucracy, and a huge threat to individual liberties,” said Shenna Bellows, Maine Civil Liberties Union Executive Director. “It creates a virtual one-stop shop for identity thieves. Maine did the right thing to oppose this.”
The resolution passed by the Maine Legislature resolves that, in protest of the treatment of the states by the President and United States Congress, the State of Maine refuses to implement the Real ID Act and implores the United States Congress to repeal the Real ID Act. The resolution is the first of its kind in the nation.
Maine says 'no thanks' to ID Act
By The Associated Press
Friday, January 26, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
AUGUSTA - The Maine Legislature registered nearly unanimous opposition Thursday to the federal Real ID Act, which requires states to change their drivers’ licenses so they can be used as national identification cards linked to a central database.
Supporters of a nonbinding resolution say the program would cost Maine taxpayers $185 million over the first five years and invite identity theft.
The resolution asks Congress to repeal the law, which takes effect next year, and says "the Maine Legislature refuses to implement the Real ID Act of 2005." It passed 34-0 in the Senate and 137-4 in the House of Representatives.
Copies were to be sent to President Bush, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and other federal and state officials.
The resolution had the support of diverse advocacy groups, including the Maine Civil Liberties Union and the libertarian Cato Institute.
Jim Harper of the Cato Institute warned that negative consequences of a national ID card would be "profound."
"Lawful trade and travel would be disrupted for ID checks, at a substantial cost to both liberty and commerce. What little benefits we’d reap would not be worth the price," said Harper.
Shenna Bellows of the MCLU derided Real IDs as "a one-stop shop for identity thieves" because they would have to include coded addresses that could be read by someone with a scanner. Bellows said several other states are considering following Maine’s example.
"I think there’s going to be a huge snowball of these" resolutions, she said.
Members of the National Conference of State Legislatures voted during an annual meeting in August to approve a resolution to demand that Congress either find a way to pay for the Real ID Act or repeal it by the end of 2007. The law is due to take effect in 2008.
At the time, Chertoff sought to ease worries about the law, saying there was no intent to create "a big brother" approach or create a federal database of drivers’ personal information.
The law was motivated by the Sept. 11 terrorists who used legitimate driver’s licenses before the 2001 attacks. It seeks to unify the patchwork of state licensing rules and make it harder to obtain a card fraudulently. Now, Chertoff said, hundreds of kinds of IDs are used to allow people to cross borders.
In Maine, House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, D-North Haven, acknowledged that the resolution passed Thursday is not binding. She said the language saying the state refuses to comply with the law "is more expressing our feeling and intent that we’re not interested in following through."
But Pingree added that a companion piece of legislation yet to be voted on directs the secretary of state, who administers licensing laws, not to comply. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap has said the law would be costly and difficult to implement.
Senate Majority Leader Elizabeth Libby Mitchell, D-Vassalboro, sponsor of the resolution, said Real ID "will do nothing to make us safer, but it is our job as state legislators to protect the people of Maine from just this sort of dangerous federal mandate."
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Maine Becomes First State in Nation to Reject Real ID from Maine Civil Liberties Union.
Maine Becomes First State in Nation to Reject Real ID
Legislature Passes a Resolution Refusing to Implement the National ID Card
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Augusta- Maine became the first state in the nation to reject the federal Real ID Act today. The Legislature voted this morning in favor of a resolution refusing to implement the Real ID Act. The Senate vote was unanimous while only four members of the House voted in opposition. At a press conference today, the bipartisan sponsors of the resolution celebrated a victory that they say will save Mainers from paying millions of dollars to fund the program, becoming easy targets for identity theft, and dealing with endless bureaucratic snafus.
The Real ID Act, which mandates that by 2008 states turn their driver’s licenses into national ID cards that will be part of a 50-state shared database, faced broad bipartisan opposition in Maine.
“The federal government may be willing to burden us with the high costs of a program that will do nothing to make us safer, but it is our job as state Legislators to protect the people of Maine from just this sort of dangerous federal mandate,” said Senate Majority Leader Libby Mitchell (D- Augusta), the lead sponsor of the resolution in the Senate. “As a Mainer, I am proud that this state has led the way in taking a stand against Real ID.”
“The broad bipartisan opposition in Maine to Real ID shows just how problematic the law is,” said Representative Scott Lansley (R- Sabattus), the lead sponsor of the resolution in the House. “It wouldn’t make any sense to implement a program that is opposed by so many people from both sides of the aisle and doesn’t seem to have any real benefits for the people of Maine.”
Real ID has gained the ire of privacy advocates, who say linking driver’s licenses and state ID cards to a national database will create a goldmine of accessible information for identity thieves. The Real ID Act requires the cards to include a computer-readable zone, which privacy advocates say will allow anyone with a reader to collect the personal identifying information of anyone with a card.
“Real ID is a real privacy nightmare,” said House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree (D- North Haven), a sponsor of the resolution. “It won’t make us any safer, but it could make us vulnerable to identity theft.”
Real ID has also caused concern over the amount it will cost states in taxpayer dollars. While the Real ID Act is a federal law, it doesn’t come with federal appropriations. In order to adopt Real ID, states will need new technology and an increase in Bureau of Motor Vehicle workers. Experts have estimated the initial cost of implementing the system at $11 billion to the states, and Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said the cost to Maine would be $185 million over the first five years.
“Real ID means huge costs, huge bureaucracy, and a huge threat to individual liberties,” said Shenna Bellows, Maine Civil Liberties Union Executive Director. “It creates a virtual one-stop shop for identity thieves. Maine did the right thing to oppose this.”
The resolution passed by the Maine Legislature resolves that, in protest of the treatment of the states by the President and United States Congress, the State of Maine refuses to implement the Real ID Act and implores the United States Congress to repeal the Real ID Act. The resolution is the first of its kind in the nation.
