RALEIGH — North Carolina would become the latest state to rebel against the federal REAL ID driver's license standards if an atypical mix of lawmakers gets its way.
Both fiscal conservatives worried about the law's impact on state spending and more liberal members, who express concerns about the potential for invasion of privacy, signed on to a bill this past week that demands, "No State agency shall comply with the requirements of the REAL ID ACT." That 2005 federal law created uniform standards for state driver's licenses in an effort to make identification harder to fake or obtain for those here illegally.
Should the North Carolina proposal pass and the federal government not change the current law, North Carolinians would be unable to use their driver's licenses for boarding airplanes or entering U.S. government buildings.
"The cost is going to equate to what it costs us to pave 20 miles of new road, and we just can't afford to do that," said Rep. Nelson Cole, a Rockingham County Democrat who is chairman of a pair of key committees on transportation. He estimated that compliance with the law this year would cost at least $20 million, largely for computer upgrades.
Cole calls the law an "unfunded mandate," a criticism of federal policies that require costly actions by the states but do not provide money to pay for the actions.
Slowing tax revenues and rising costs equate to little room for new programs in the budget that takes effect July 1. At the same time, road construction and other transportation needs are becoming more pressing.
"There's also a lot of questions from a civil liberties perspective," said Rep. Paul Luebke, a Durham Democrat and the Finance Committee chairman.
The law would assemble a mammoth database of personal information. That has been a major sticking point for those concerned about government keeping too close a watch on its citizens or about security failures that could put individuals at risk for identity theft.
In recent years, North Carolina has been criticized for having licenses that are too easy to obtain, making it a draw for those in the country illegally. Legislators say most of those issues have been taken care of and that the REAL ID requirements do little to increase the security of the state's driver's licenses.
Maine became the first state to formally reject REAL ID requirements last year; now at least seven states have passed laws similar to North Carolina's. Several other states are in the process of passing laws, including Minnesota, where the legislature voted to reject the federal law over the threat of the governor's veto.
In fact, so many legislatures and governors have said they could not or would not comply with REAL ID, that the Department of Homeland Security granted all 50 states an extension for complying with the new rules from May 11 of this year until Dec. 31, 2009.
Congress passed REAL ID in 2005, part of a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Amy Kudwa, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said the law was aimed at making sure all states had similar and strict regulations in place for issuing identification.
And she cautioned that extensions for compliance eventually will expire, saying that if states don't bring their licenses in line by 2010, "there will be very practical consequences" for residents of those states.
Residents from states that don't comply with REAL ID would need to obtain passports or other documentation that complies with the standards to fly or enter federal buildings, she said.
And opponents are worried about language that says REAL ID-compliant identification could be needed for any "federal purpose," said Matt Sundeen, a transportation analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"That's the real hammer here," he said. "People have talked about accessing any federal benefits being a concern."
The conference is among a number of groups pushing the federal government to rewrite the REAL ID rules or, failing that, to repeal the law altogether.
"The need for secure documentation was one of the main recommendations of the 9/11 Commission," said U.S. Rep. Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican.
Coble said it surprises him that the state legislature would consider such a move because he had been told North Carolina was making good progress in complying with the law.
"I'm disappointed because I think there's far more good than bad in complying with it," Coble said.
A spokeswoman for the state Division of Motor Vehicles declined to comment on the pending legislation.
Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker @news-record.com
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