AUGUSTA — Republicans, Democrats and the only independent in the Maine House are backing a renewed effort to reject a federal identification program that some consider too invasive.

Independent Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland is sponsoring L.D. 1068, which would prohibit the Secretary of State’s Office from using retinal scans, facial recognition or fingerprint technology to issue driver’s licenses.

The bill is scheduled for a public hearing today before the Legislature’s Transportation Committee.

“Having to undergo a retinal scan or facial recognition screening to get a driver’s license is like something out of a bad science fiction movie,” said Alysia Melnick, public policy counsel for the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

Such screening, while not used in Maine, is part of the federal Real ID Act of 2005. Maine is now in compliance with some, but not all, of the law’s provisions.

Maine Secretary of State Charlie Summers supports Chipman’s bill, saying the new driver’s licenses that he introduced recently “satisfy federal requirements and are accepted as valid ID in all states.

“There is no need to duplicate our efforts and increase the amount of government in our lives when we have already covered the necessary bases at home,” Summers said in a prepared statement.

Chipman was joined at a State House press conference by Rep. Richard Cebra, R-Naples, Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, and former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap.

In a statement, Gov. Paul LePage’s press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, said the governor looks forward to working with privacy advocates and lawmakers on the issue.

“Gov. LePage has a strong interest in protecting the privacy of Maine people,” she said. “He supports protections that prevent Social Security numbers and digital images collected by the Secretary of State to be shared upon request, sold or stored in central databases.”

In 2007, Maine became the first state to reject the federal regulations that were adopted in response to a commission that studied national security in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. While federal officials wanted to make driver’s licenses more uniform and secure, the Maine Legislature and Dunlap opposed the federal law as too sweeping and intrusive.

In particular, lawmakers objected to a database of information on all drivers that could be accessed by federal officials, and “biometric technology” such as eye scans and facial recognition.

Dunlap said the problem on Sept. 11 wasn’t state-issued driver’s licenses, but travel documents approved by the federal government.

“The terrorist hijackers that took those planes and crashed them into buildings and killed thousands of Americans got into this country not with driver’s licenses,” he said. “They got into this country with visas issued by the U.S. Department of State.”

While Maine was the first of 22 states to take a strong stand against the federal law, in 2008, the federal Department of Homeland Security rejected the state’s request for a waiver and put pressure on Gov. John Baldacci to implement at least some of the reforms.

The department indicated that it would stop accepting Maine driver’s licenses as identification for commercial flights and for entry into federal buildings if Maine did not comply.

Baldacci worked with lawmakers to pass a bill to satisfy the federal government.

The law requires immigrants to prove that they are in this country legally to get licenses or identification cards. A driver’s license given to a noncitizen expires when the license holder’s legal status runs out.

The law also requires the state to take extra steps, including verifying documents offered by immigrants who seek licenses.

Under an amendment to Chipman’s bill, those provisions would remain.

Chipman’s focus, and the intent of the MCLU, is to ensure that the secretary of state is barred from disseminating Social Security numbers without legislative authorization, and to prohibit the state from using retinal scans, facial recognition or fingerprint technology to issue licenses, Melnick said.

From the start, a major concern with Real ID was the cost to states — estimated at $185 million for Maine — and the creation of a link to a national database. The MCLU raised questions about the possibility of identity theft if information about everyone in the country was in one place.

Federal implementation of Real ID has stalled. Groups such as the MCLU are pushing for repeal and are worried that a second proposal, called Pass ID, will be more intrusive than the original.

“Real ID on steroids, otherwise known as Pass ID, has been introduced in Congress, and Real ID remains on the books,” Melnick said.
 
Susan Cover — 620-7015
scover@mainetoday.com