We haven’t heard much about the drivers license plan known as Real ID lately, but the 2005 law moving us a step closer to national ID cards is still on the books. Fortunately, this month the Department of Homeland Security extended a deadline that was facing Maine and scores of other states.

By the end of 2009, states were required to issue “secure” drivers licenses. The law called for states to gather identity documents from license applicants for a national database digitally linked to drivers licenses. With this deadline at hand, the administration waived the Real ID requirements until May 11, 2011.

Without this waiver, residents of Maine and most other states would have been unable to use their state-issued drivers licenses as valid identification at airports and federal buildings. As Maine Sen. Susan Collins recently pointed out, this would have subjected countless holiday travelers to unnecessary delays.

She said: “Congress, the Department of Homeland Security and the states must use this temporary extension to continue legislative and regulatory efforts that address privacy and cost concerns with Real ID, while still providing for secure identification documents, as the 9/11 Commission recommended.”

Last summer, the administration proposed Pass ID, an alternative plan that would have enabled the states to avoid large costs for equipment and personnel mandated by the requirements of Real ID. This version also addressed privacy concerns raised by both Democrats and Republicans, who objected to the establishment of a national database and warned of the likelihood of governmental and commercial misuse of personal information.

Privacy advocates remain concerned about the establishment of a standardized digital license as a national identity card. Some critics also note that the federal government may be exceeding its constitutional authority by compelling states to establish the essential parts of a national identification system.

Meanwhile, several Republicans are rallying opposition against Pass ID, claiming that does not go far enough to protect national security. It is not clear what will eventually emerge from Congress.

Although Maine is on record as refusing to adhere to the expensive and intrusive requirements of Real ID, the state this year began taking additional steps to verify the identity of every license applicant. We support this approach because such verification is an essential part of national security.

But Maine and the nation should resist the continuing effort to link the states into some kind of federal-state identity agency. The cost to state treasuries and our civil liberties is just not worth it.

— Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Nick Cowenhoven at nickc@journaltribune.com or City Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski at kristenm@journaltribune.com.