Lawmakers voted yesterday to accept $3 million in federal money to launch a new program applying stricter identification requirements to people seeking driver's licenses.

New Hampshire is one of two states chosen to pilot the federal Real ID Act; Kentucky is the other. The law requires all states to comply by 2008 with new federal identification standards, such as requiring birth certificates and Social Security cards when people apply for driver's licenses.

New Hampshire legislators waged a heated battle this year over whether to comply with Real ID. Opponents warned it would lead to a national identification card, as well as a national database that could be vulnerable to identity thieves or government intrusion. Supporters argued that New Hampshire's licenses already contain the requisite security features and that failure to comply could leave state residents unable to board a plane or enter a federal building without a passport.

Earlier this year, the House voted to block New Hampshire from participating in Real ID, but the state Senate killed that bill. That allowed Safety Commissioner Dick Flynn and Motor Vehicles Director Virginia Beecher to come before the Legislature's joint fiscal committee yesterday for permission to proceed with Real ID and receive the $3 million grant.

Beecher told the committee she had no intention of sharing driver information with a national database, except for the system that now exists to identify problem drivers to the police. "We would protect states's rights and individual privacy," she said.

Beecher and Flynn promoted the pilot grant as an opportunity to use federal money for a much-needed overhaul of New Hampshire's existing computer licensing system, which dates back 20 years.

The joint committee approved the request on an 8-2 vote. But the governor and the Executive Council still must approve the grant, and Gov. John Lynch has said he has questions about the program.

Councilor Peter Spaulding, a Hopkinton Republican, said he would vote against Real ID if the request came before the Executive Council. "It almost smacks of back in the last century, in the regimes in Germany and the Soviet Union and those countries, where people walked down the street and got asked for 'papers please,'" he said. "We just don't need that."

Beecher stressed that New Hampshire could avoid undesirable aspects of Real ID by serving as a pioneer.

Rep. Neal Kurk, the Weare Republican who led the campaign against Real ID in the Legislature, said the three House members who voted to comply with Real ID yesterday ignored the concerns of their House colleagues.

Kurk said it was premature for Department of Safety officials to say this would not be a national ID or lead to a national database. The Real ID regulations are still being written in Washington, he said.

"With all due respect to Dick Flynn, we're not going to be pioneers here; we're going to be the first to jump off the end of the plank. We'll lead the lemming parade, and the other states will follow behind unless the Executive Council stands up," Kurk said.

The two House Democrats on the committee, Reps. Dan Eaton and Peter Franklin, voted against the measure yesterday. The three Republican House members (fiscal Chairman Fred King and Reps. Liz Hager and Joe Stone) joined all five senators on the committee - Republican Senate President Ted Gatsas, Senate Majority Leader Bob Clegg and Republican Sens. Chuck Morse and Dick Green, as well as Democratic Sen. Lou D'Allesandro - in supporting the request.

King, of Colebrook, said the committee should approve the measure because Real ID was federal law.

Several members of the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance watched the vote from the front row, where they wore anti-Real ID badges. Denis Goddard, the group's research director, said he wasn't surprised at the vote. He warned that Real ID could set the stage for a national ID card and database, since 50 separate databases would be costly to maintain. (next page »)