Maine Senate passes Real ID bill
Courtesy / Office of Sen. Bill Diamond
Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, on the floor of the Maine Senate in Augusta. Diamond has sponsored a bill, LD 306, that is intended to put Maine in compliance with federal Real ID requirements. The Maine Senate voted 31-4 Thursday in favor of the bill, which also faces a vote in the House of Representatives.
The Maine Senate on Thursday gave initial approval to LD 306, a bill that designed to make Maine driver’s licenses and non-driver state identification cards compliant with the federal REAL ID Act of 2005.
If Maine does not comply with the REAL ID Act, residents of the state will not be able to use their existing ID cards to board commercial airplanes, beginning in January 2018. Maine’s non-compliance with the law is already preventing Mainers from entering certain federal facilities.
Sponsored by Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, “An Act To Require State Compliance with Federal REAL ID Guidelines” would do two things:
- Repeal a 2007 state law that prohibits the state from participating in the federal Real ID Act of 2005 and prevents the Maine Secretary of State from changing procedures for applying for a driver's license or non-driver identification card in a manner to conform to the federal REAL ID Act of 2005.
- Direct the Secretary of State to issue driver's licenses and non-driver identification cards that conform to the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, including meeting its standards for new facial recognition and fingerprinting and requirements involving proof of identity and citizenship at the time of application.
The bill includes a one-time $3.16 million Highway Fund allocation to the Department of the Secretary of State to issue passport books and passport cards. Additional costs associated with establishing and administering an educational campaign can be absorbed within existing budgeted resources, according to the fiscal note attached to the bill.
No federal rescue coming
In testimony delivered during a March 7 public hearing on the bill held by the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation, Diamond told fellow lawmakers that there would be no reprieve from the federal government on the adverse consequences of non-compliance if Maine continued with five other states to go its own way.
“[The federal] Department of Homeland Security tells me even some of the five are now seeing the devastating consequences of refusing to comply and have started to make plans to comply,” Diamond said at the hearing, noting that U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Bruce Poliquin, R-2nd District, and Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, had told him there was little chance that Congress would address the non-compliance issue and that it would be best for Maine to take action itself.
“Congresswoman Pingree tried to work on congressional legislation, but that had no chance of going anywhere,” Diamond said. “And why should it? Why should 45 other states that have either gone through the process of complying or are in the process of complying all of a sudden change the law for Maine? The answer is simple: they won't. They've all made it work and we can too.”
The vote in the Maine Senate was 31-4.
Sen. Ron Collins, R-York, who is chairman of the Transportation Committee and a co-sponsor of LD 306, said in a written statement sent to Mainebiz: “Today’s vote was a very encouraging development. Our failure to comply with the federal REAL ID law would have serious consequences for Mainers. As it stands now, Maine veterans can no longer access clinics on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and are being denied the care they are owed. We need to take the necessary steps to get into compliance, and I believe we are now moving closer to that goal.”
Maine Senate President Michael Thibodeau, R-Waldo, added: “This is a common sense piece of legislation that will get us into compliance with federal law and prevent unnecessary disruptions in the lives of Mainers.”
The bill faces additional votes in the Maine House of Representatives and Senate.
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