Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, and Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 15, 2009, before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on the Real ID Act. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

By Max Cacas
FederalNewsRadio

The Senate is now considering a bill which would modify federal mandates for more secure drivers licenses and other forms of state-issued identification. The goal is to address one security concern rooted in the 9/11 attacks. But the states have been actively resisting the REAL ID law.

During yesterday's hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the panel's ranking member, Maine Republican Susan Collins, outlined the primary stumbling blocks to states complying with the Bush Administration's REAL ID law

State budgets had little room for the hundreds of millions of dollars that it would cost to implement the new regulations. A faltering economy only worsened the financial strain. Another problem is that the key information technologies needed to implement the law efficiently were not readily available. And although identity theft cost the economy billions of dollars, and causes much distress to its victims. The department's policies failed to address critical privacy issues.

The answer, says Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, is Senate Bill 1261, called the "Providing for Additional Security in States Identification", or PASS ID, Act of 2009.

Napolitano and representatives from the National Governors Association pushed hard for the new plan they say would meet the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission and save states big money along the way. They also said the plan they backbuilds on what was required in the Bush Administration's REAL ID.

"We're not starting from scratch here, because really PASS ID is a REAL ID fix," Napolitano said.

Napolitano said the Bush administration program is unrealistic because it's too expensive, and the technology necessary to meet the security standards is not available.

"By Dec. 31, no state will have issued a Real ID compliant identification document," said Napolitano, a former governor whose own state of Arizona voted not to participate. "We cannot have national standards for driver's licenses when the states themselves refuse to participate."

The National Governors Association estimates the current law would cost states $4 billion while the new plan could cut the costs to between $1.3 billion and $2 billion.

Sen. Daniel Akaka, (D-Hawaii), introduced the PASS ID legislation last month.

The 2001 terrorist attacks were the main motivation for the original law. The hijacker who flew a plane into the Pentagon, Hani Hanjour, had four driver's licenses and ID cards from three states.

REAL ID-compliant driver's licenses would have several layers of security to prevent forgery, such as verification of birth certificates, Social Security numbers and immigration status.

The PASS ID, by contrast, would not put the home addresses of victims of domestic violence or people in the witness protection program on licenses.

PASS ID also would not require that birth certificates be confirmed with the agency that issued them. Lieberman said relaxing this Real ID provision could lead to a situation where "the license itself would be valid, but the identity documents by which it was based would not."

Unlike the Real ID plan, the Pass ID plan would not require that people have the new driver's licenses to board airplanes. Collins expressed concern that this could undermine the purpose of having a secure driver's license.

"Driver's licenses could be the keys to the kingdom for terrorists bent on destruction," said Collins.

Under both plans, if the traveler does not have a secure identification card, the traveler will go through additional security screening by the Transportation Security Administration.

In response to resistance from states, the last administration issued extensions for states to meet the requirements of the Real ID Act.

Under the current law, states have to certify by Dec. 31 they are complying with the Real ID standard to validate immigration status in order to issue a driver's license. Residents of states that don't follow the new standard will not be allowed to board airplanes with their driver's licenses after the end of this year.

Civil liberties groups say the Pass ID would violate privacy rights in the same way the Real ID does. Twenty-four advocacy groups for privacy and other causes - including the American Civil Liberties Union, Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Network to End Domestic Violence - sent Congress a letter opposing both identification programs.

Committee chairman Joseph Lieberman (ID-Conn.) said that he hopes to work with interested parties in the next several weeks to try to resolve privacy, security and other issues with the PASS ID legislation, in time for the Homeland Security Committee's next legislative markup session on July 29th. Lieberman, Akaka and other members of the panel would like to get a version of the bill passed before the end of the year.

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Associated Press Writer Eileen Sullivan contributed to this report.

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