Real ID rules loosened, but state still balks

WASHINGTON — The federal government Friday issued national standards that states would have to meet in order for driver's licenses to qualify as identification at airports and federal buildings, setting the stage for a confrontation with Washington and 16 other states that have voted not to cooperate.

Under a measure known as Real ID legislation, the states must comply by May 11, the third anniversary of the measure's enactment, or obtain a waiver from the Homeland Security Department.

Meeting the May 11 deadline is impossible because the regulations have been delayed so long, but Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday that his department would issue a waiver to states that promised to comply later.

He laid out a long schedule, with the final deadline in December 2017, 16 years after the events that prompted the law, the Sept. 11 attacks.

Several states have voted not to comply. One is Washington.

Asked what difference the new rules would make, the Senate's transportation committee chairwoman said, "None." The Washington Legislature is to begin a special session Monday, Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen said, but it will be brief.

"It's very unrealistic of the federal government to think that states that are not in session or in a short session can resolve this in a short time frame," she said. "Our state has said we will not spend money on the Real ID unless they fund it, and I don't see any money coming from the federal government."

Instead, Washington state is preparing to roll out an enhanced but less stringent driver's license designed to ease land or sea travel to and from Canada.

In Washington and elsewhere, state lawmakers have complained that the Real ID requirements add up to a national identification card, that it is too costly, puts privacy at risk and poses severe challenges.

Airlines are worried, because travelers with driver's licenses from states that do not have a waiver would have to use a passport or a military ID, or face additional screening, including a pat-down.

Under the program, a central recommendation of the Sept. 11 commission, states would have to require applicants for new licenses or renewals to prove they are legally in the country, and then record and verify the documents. Opponents have complained that passports and Social Security cards are easy to verify promptly, but birth certificates are not.

Civil libertarians say the new licenses must have all the information encoded into a machine-readable bar code that will be read by retail stores, hotels and other companies, creating intrusions of privacy.

The schedule released Friday calls for compliant licenses for everyone younger than 50 by May 11, 2014, and for those 50 and older, by Dec. 1, 2017.

The Homeland Security Department decided this would lower costs, Chertoff said.

Information from Seattle Times archives is included in this report.