Senator Jamie Raskin

Delmarva Daily Times

State may join Real ID protest
Md. driver's license fee could skyrocket
By Kristen Wyatt
Associated Press Writer

February 16, 2007

http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070216/NEWS01/702160304/1002

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland's drivers could see the cost of licenses jump from $45 to $195 under a federal law setting up a nationalized identification system. In response, state lawmakers are considering joining a national protest of state legislatures pleading for changes to the federal Real ID Act.

The law, passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, aims to improve security by establishing uniform national rules for identification needed to board airplanes or enter federal buildings. Real ID would take effect next spring, but a growing number of states are taking issue with an estimated $11 billion national price tag to make the changes.

Though states aren't required to overhaul their driver's license operations, most adults use the licenses as ID. That means the nation's 245 million drivers would have to get new driver's licenses to board planes.

"It's like a 'Godfather' offer. It's an offer we can't refuse," said Sen. Jamie Raskin, D-Montgomery, who sponsored a resolution in the Senate telling Congress Maryland opposes the Real ID Act.

The other sponsor, Sen. Jennie Forehand, said Real ID will cost Maryland about $150 million to implement, and with tight budgets, most of the expense would have to be shifted to drivers, which could cost as much as $195 each.

"We're gonna get phone calls up the kazoo from our constituents if this happens," said Forehand, also a Democrat from Montgomery County. She called Real ID a "disaster" and "an unfunded mandate."

Similar complaints are echoing across the nation's state legislatures. Maine has flatly refused to comply with Real ID. Lawmakers have also balked in Georgia, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington state. Congress is also considering repealing the measure.

A Real ID expert from the National Conference of State Legislatures told the Senate committee that specific cost estimates aren't available because the federal Department of Homeland Security hasn't yet spelled out what states have to do.