After Saturday, anyone seeking to obtain or renew a Maine license or identification card will have to prove their legal presence in the United States – even if they’ve lived here all their lives and are well-known by the people processing their request.
The change, which is related to the state’s reluctant compliance with the federal Real ID law, raises concerns for Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap that long lines and frayed nerves at Bureaus of Motor Vehicles will again become reality in Maine.
After Nov. 15, anyone seeking a Maine driver’s license or Maine identification card, including renewals, will have to produce certified and unexpired documents that prove they are in this country legally. There are many ways to do that, but what Dunlap worries about is the public hasn’t gotten the message.
“Come Nov. 15, there could be a real shock to the public,” said Dunlap. “A lot of people whose license is going to expire are going to think they can just run down to the motor vehicle office and renew it. When they’re told they have to provide all these documents, even for a renewal, that really sets people off.”
The new requirements, part of an anti-terrorism law known as “Real ID,” were passed by the Legislature in April after threats from the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security to bar Mainers from using licenses to board flights or enter federal buildings unless the state complied.
The legal presence requirement satisfies only one aspect of more stringent and sweeping changes called for by the federal Real ID act. To fully comply with the law – which the Legislature resolved to oppose in 2007 – would cost the state millions, said Dunlap.
In addition to the previous requirement of establishing residence in Maine, customers seeking licenses or identification cards will now be asked for an unexpired copy of one of the following documents: a passport, a certified birth certificate, a consular report of birth abroad, a certificate of naturalization, a certificate of U.S. citizenship or valid U.S. identification card, an American Indian card or a northern Mariana identification card. Anyone without one of those documents must follow a secondary process that involves proving no birth records exist.
The next phase of the Real ID law requires the state to verify the authenticity of the documents, which is where Dunlap said the process begins to become “much more troublesome.”
“How do you verify a birth certificate?” he said. “What if the hospital that issued it doesn’t exist anymore? It poses a real customer service challenge. The biggest problem will be working with the public to help them get what they need. ”
The law also requires a computerized facial recognition system that Dunlap said would cost $800,000 to implement and $80,000 a year to maintain. The Dept. of Homeland Security expects compliance with that and a host of other requirements by 2015. Even though that’s still seven years away, Dunlap said it’s not enough time. “If we started today, we’d be 10 years away from complying,” he said.
The Maine Civil Liberties Union is a strong opponent of the Real ID initiative.
“In these difficult economic times, to be spending money on more restrictions that will make it more difficult for Mainers to drive to their jobs is wrong-headed,” said Shenna Bellows, the MCLU’s executive director. “We would like to see a repeal. These regulations do nothing to make us safer.”
Bellows said the law is also an infringement on privacy, particularly the facial recognition system, which will store details about people’s facial features in a government database. She said the Maine and American Civil Liberties Unions are pressuring the Maine Legislature and U.S. Congress to repeal the effort.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, in a written response to questions from a reporter, disagreed that the measure won’t help prevent terrorism, referring to the 9/11 Commission report that found driver’s licenses were a valuable tool for hijackers to get access to facilities, rent cars, and board aircraft.
“These standards make it less likely that illegal immigrants can obtain licenses by requiring more rigorous proof of their identity and legal status,” wrote Collins. “The standards also improve the physical features of the license to make it more difficult to tamper with the ID or manufacture a fraudulent one.”
But because of privacy and cost concerns, Collins said she supported delaying implementation of the rules for two years. The delay will give Congress and the Obama administration “the opportunity to carefully consider the privacy and funding issues inherent in any program to improve the security of our nation’s drivers’ licenses.”
Dunlap will update the Legislature during its next session on the state’s progress and prepare a more extensive written report by Oct. 1, 2009. A plan for compliance is due to the federal government by Dec. 15, 2009. Dunlap estimates it’ll cost Maine anywhere from $5 million to $25 million to implement all the requirements. Those funds would pay for imaging, verification of documents, the cost of issuing the physical credentials and additional staff.
“We don’t have the money,” said Dunlap, who has long been a critic of Real ID. “That’s going to be a significant burden on the state and these are not even valuable tools for stopping illegal aliens from entering the country. We don’t control the borders; we license drivers.”
Another consequence of complying with the law, which has already taken place, is that Mainers can no longer renew their driver’s licenses online.
(Statehouse News Service)
