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by Rob Poindexter - April 6th 2011 11:16pm - Read more Local News

Augusta - Republicans, Democrats, and Independents stood together Wednesday in Augusta to speak out in favor of a proposal to get rid of parts of the Federal Real ID Act implemented in Maine under former Governor John Baldacci.

The federal law would eventually link every state drivers license and ID cards to a federal database but only if the federal government can get all states on board.

Real ID would also require facial recognition or retinal scans in order to get a license or state ID.

Former Governor Baldacci implemented parts of the law four years ago, including screening some Mainers through federal records to determine their citizenship. Former Secretary of State Matt Dunlap says in order to get an extension from the federal government Baldacci had to implement some parts of the federal law. "Some states were actually pointed in their request for a waiver. I believe New Hampshire said we have no intention of complying but give us the waiver. And they got the waiver," Dunlap said to reporters Wednesday. And it became a little bit of a joke around the federal government. It was a joke that, then Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff didn't think was very funny." Dunlap says if Baldacci had not implemented the parts of the Real ID Act that he did the state would not have received an extension and would have had to comply with the entire law.

Representative Ben Chipman of Portland is sponsoring a bill to repeal those parts of the federal Real ID Act implemented in Maine. He says Real ID is intrusive, expensive and not needed. "It's incredibly expensive," Chipman told reporters on Wednesday. "It's an unfunded federal mandate that requires the state of Maine to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on collecting this data, the facial recognition scans and the like to put into a database and we just don't have the money."

Last month Secretary of State Charles Summers unveiled Maine's new look drivers license and state ID. Summers also opposes Real ID and says Maine's new ID has more than adequate security features.

Governor LePage's office released this statement regarding Real ID.

"Governor LePage has a strong interest in protecting the privacy of Maine people. 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."