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4 groups challenging new Maine laws
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May 6, 2008

AUGUSTA, Maine—Maine election officials say they've accepted applications from four groups that are challenging two recently enacted laws.
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One law one deals with Dirigo Health and new taxes to pay for it, and the other bolsters Maine driver's license requirements to bring the state into closer compliance with the federal Real ID law.

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said Tuesday the four applications came in before Monday's 5 p.m. deadline. That sets the stage for the groups to collect voters' signatures in order force people's veto votes.

Some of the campaign leaders left the door open to combining efforts with campaigns dealing with similar issues. The could mean two rather than four repeal efforts will be conducted.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/maine/ ... aine_laws/

Published: 05.07.2008
Lawmakers approves proposed prohibition on REAL ID standards
The Associated Press


The Arizona Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would prohibit Arizona's participation in new federal security standards program for driver's licenses.

The 21-7 vote sends the proposal to the House, which had approved a milder version of the bill in March but will now consider a key change made by the Senate.

The House version would prohibit the state's participation in the REAL ID program without the approval of the Legislature. The Senate made it a flat prohibition.

The REAL ID law requires all states to bring their driver's licenses under a national standard and to link their record-keeping systems. It draws criticism because of the costs. Other criticism centers on the federal mandate and whether it would be effective.

http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/84558.php

Petitions Filed to Overturn Real ID Compliance Law
Written by Victoria Wallack
Thursday, May 08, 2008

AUGUSTA — Two applications for people’s veto petitions have been filed to overturn the law passed last month that puts Maine on the path to compliance with the federal REAL ID Act — a law opponents say violates people’s civil liberties.

The law, which passed the Legislature after hours of debate that stretched over days, requires the state’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to check and see if a driver’s license applicant is in the country legally. It also requires the secretary of state’s office, which oversees the BMV, to develop a cost-effective way, such as facial recognition or fingerprint technology, to ensure an applicant does not have more than one driver’s license or non-driver identification card.

Governor John Baldacci put in the legislation under pressure from the Department of Homeland Security, which threatened that Mainers would no longer be able to use their driver’s licenses to board planes or enter federal buildings if the state didn’t tighten up its licensing process. It finally passed 19-15 in the Senate and 79-58 in the House.

Kathleen McGee, an activist from Bowdoinham, and Donna Bendiksen, a Republican House candidate from Portland, both filed veto applications to overturn the law entirely.

McGee said Tuesday she and Bendiksen plan to work together.

“This is about people’s right to privacy and the ability to live in a democracy without the infringement of the federal government overseeing their every move,â€

Tester: Real ID erodes privacy
By NOELLE STRAUB Missoulian D.C. Bureau


WASHINGTON - Sen. Jon Tester on Wednesday said recent government programs, including the Real ID Act, have violated privacy and built executive power to the extent that it threatens national security.

“The Real ID Act was yet another in a series of sweeping laws and programs that represent an invasion of privacy by the government that far exceeds anything that we've seen in a generation,â€

Sen. Tester continues to speak out against REAL ID

Posted: May 7, 2008 07:50 PM

Updated: May 7, 2008 07:50 PM

Senator Jon Tester continues to stand up in opposition of the REAL ID program. On Wednesday, Tester spoke about the controversial program at the Cato Institute in Washington.

He says REAL ID is just a national ID card, which invades privacy, is too expensive, and will put sensitive information at risk. The Senator calls REAL ID a symptom of too much power in the presidency.

"In the three years since REAL ID was enacted, it has had all kinds of unintended consequences. And no benefit whatsoever when it comes to making this country more secure. It is incredibly expensive and complicated. It is burdensome to states and individuals alike."

Tester has signed on to legislation repealing REAL ID and replacing it with a more flexible program.

http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/Glob ... ?S=8286819

States Bi-partisanly Oppose Real ID -- Still
by Ericka Andersen
Posted: 05/08/2008


Two years in the making, the Department of Homeland Security’s proposed regulations to implement the “Real IDâ€

People's Veto Petitions Take Aim At REAL ID Law
Story date: 05/07/2008
By Victoria Wallack
Two applications for people's veto petitions have been filed to overturn the law passed last month that puts Maine on the path to compliance with the federal REAL ID Act -- a law opponents say violates people's civil liberties.

The law, which passed the Legislature after hours of debate that stretched over days, requires the state's Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to check and see if a driver's license applicant is in the country legally.

It also requires the Secretary of State, who oversees the BMV, to develop a cost-effective way, such as facial recognition or fingerprint technology, to ensure an applicant does not have more than one driver's license or non-driver identification card.

Gov. John Baldacci put in the legislation under pressure from the Dept. of Homeland Security, which threatened that Mainers would no longer be able to use their driver's licenses to board planes or enter federal buildings if the state didn't tighten up its licensing process. It finally passed 19 to 15 in the Senate and 79 to 58 in the House.

Kathleen McGee, an activist from Bowdoinham, and Donna Bendiksen, a Republican House candidate from Portland, both filed veto applications to overturn the law entirely.

McGee said Tuesday she and Bendiksen plan to work together.

"This is about people's right to privacy and the ability to live in a democracy without the infringement of the federal government overseeing their every move," McGee said. "This is a basic democratic issue and it crosses all party lines."

That brings to four the number of applications filed with the Secretary of State to launch a veto drive. The other two are focused on the beer, wine, soda and insurance taxes passed to fund the subsidized Dirigo Health insurance program.

The deadline for filing a veto petition application was Monday at 5 p.m. The Secretary of State will now approve language for the petitions. In order to get the vetoes on the November ballot, petitioners must collect 55,087 signatures of registered voters by July 17.

(State House News Service)

http://www.mainelincolncountynews.com/i ... m?ID=32072

May 7, 2008 11:51 AM PDT
State Real ID rebellion: Here to stay?
Posted by Anne Broache | 1 comment

WASHINGTON--Politicians from states opposed to the U.S. government's Real ID plan had one message on Wednesday: It's not too late to turn this ship around.

Democratic Senator Jon Tester
(Credit: U.S. Senate)

Mark Sanford, the Republican governor of South Carolina, and Jon Tester, a Democratic U.S. senator from Montana, on Wednesday delivered a now-familiar bruising to the controversial national driver's license standards, which they criticized as an unfunded mandate that passed with no formal debate in Congress, posing threats to U.S. citizens' privacy and states' authority.

Now that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has extended deadlines for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the rules have essentially been punted to the next administration. That "baton passing" stage is a key opportunity to continue rebelling against the rules, the two politicians told a packed auditorium at an event sponsored by the Cato Institute, a free-market think tank that opposes Real ID.

"With a broad-based group, we can make some changes, but you need to be active, you need to be vocal, you need to be talking to your folks," Tester said.

Tester is one of the sponsors of Identification Security Enhancement Act, which would yank Real ID and replace it with a "negotiated" rulemaking process that was proposed before Real ID was glued onto an emergency Iraq war spending bill that passed unanimously in 2005. At a hearing last week, some senators indicated they'd be pushing for that proposal's enactment into law, although a timeline is unclear.

Sanford, for his part, is worried that many people are "sleeping through" the debate and urged opponents to help awaken them to the problems that he and other state officials see with Real ID. He charged that the plan is "the mother of all unfunded mandates" (with an estimated $116 million price tag for his small state), will force his state's residents to endure long waits at the Department of Motor Vehicles, meddles in states' governing powers, and requires interlinked databases that could offer "one-stop shopping for every computer hacker around the world."

Homeland Security, for its part, argues that more secure driver's licenses and identification documents are necessary to prevent terrorists, identity thieves, and illegal immigrants from committing wrongdoing, and it views Real ID as a pathway to that end.

The department has always characterized Real ID as voluntary, but when the rules kick in, state residents won't be able to board airplanes or enter federal buildings unless they present without a compliant identification card, driver's license, or U.S. passport. The first wave of requirements were originally supposed to kick in May 11, but any potential airport chaos has been postponed until at least the end of next year: The agency has since opted all 50 states and the District of Columbia deadline extensions for beginning to come into compliance with Real ID--whether they requested them or not.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford
(Credit: South Carolina Governor's Office)

South Carolina is one of eight states that has passed legislation prohibiting implementation of Real ID--and it also falls into the category of states that vowed to stick by that position, Sanford said. (Ten other states have passed resolutions opposing Real ID, and two more--Arizona and Alaska--may be joining the rebellion soon.)

In late March, Sanford sent a letter (PDF) to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, in which he said he could not authorize the state to comply with Real ID and outlining a list of concerns with the policy. The governor recounted receiving a "bizarre" response: an effectively unsolicited deadline extension.

Sanford suggested he'll continue to uphold his state's law rejecting Real ID and indicated Homeland Security's behavior is nothing more than politics as usual. "There's a real tendency in the political process to kick the can," he said. "Everyone wants to have a reasonably good day. The idea of having a meltdown on a policy or proposal that you're responsible for is not exactly an idea of a good day."


http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-993833 ... log.promos

Groups Challenging New Maine Health Tax, Driver's License Laws

By Glenn Adams
May 8, 2008

Maine election officials said this week that they've accepted applications from four groups that are challenging a pair of recently enacted laws, but the four groups could morph into two as the campaigns develop.

A group calling itself the Fed Up With Taxes coalition is leading a people's veto proposal seeking to repeal new taxes to bolster the Dirigo Health program. They include tax increases on beer, wine, soda and other soft drinks, and a 1.8 percent surcharge on paid insurance claims.

A second proposal is broader and seeks to repeal the entire law revamping the state-run Dirigo program. The law includes market and finance reforms as well as the tax increases.

The other legislation targeted by people's veto campaigns bolsters Maine driver's license requirements to bring the state into closer compliance with the federal Real ID law. Among other things, the law requires that license applicants are in the country legally.

The twin challenges of each of the bills raise questions as to whether efforts to derail the respective laws will be combined. There was no clear answer on this week, but some of the leaders were leaving the door wide open to the idea.

"We are an open coalition and anyone who wants to lend their support, we welcome them,'' said Newell Augur, leader of the Fed Up With Taxes group.

Stop Taxing ME, the group that wants to repeal the entire Dirigo reform law, is open to joining forces with the other campaign, said spokesman Aaron Sterling.

The Stop Taxing ME group submitted a proposal to repeal the whole law because it was not clear on whether a people's veto effort can just target part of a law, said Sterling. But it is clearly the tax increases his group is targeting, he said.

Sterling said Stop Taxing ME will proceed independently for now "because we haven't been approached by anyone else to team up,'' but added, "We certainly would welcome that.''

Donna Bendiksen of Portland, a candidate for the Legislature and leader of one of the efforts to repeal the driver's license law, had similar sentiments, saying, "We welcome all the help we can get.''

The leader of the other effort, Kathleen McGee of Bowdoinham, said her group's intention is to combine forces in what she called a nonpartisan effort that has backing from all over the political spectrum.

"Yes, absolutely, we will be working together,'' McGee said.

Bendiksen believes the law, which was passed under pressure from the federal Department of Homeland Security, will compromise privacy protections and discriminate against immigrants who are in the country legally.

"The Real ID law is not going to help. It's just going to make it harder to get a job, to keep a job and to travel,'' she said.

With the four campaigns' applications complete, election officials will review them. "Barring any problems, the Bureau of Elections will soon provide the applicants with petition forms, so they can begin the work of gathering signatures from people who support their veto efforts,'' Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said.

State election officials won't eliminate one proposal or another because of the duplication, said Don Cookson, spokesman for Dunlap's office. He said it would be up to the applicants to combine efforts if they choose to do so.

Once petition forms are provided to proponents, they will have until 5 p.m. on July 17 to submit at least 55,087 signatures in order to have their veto question appear on the statewide ballot in November.

The Dirigo Health and driver's license laws have their defenders, most notably Gov. John Baldacci, who supported both bills before signing them last month.

The administration said changes were needed to restore the integrity and security of driver's licenses, and that the law would protect the interests of people who want to board aircraft or enter a federal building without encountering the extra cost of getting a passport or other federal identification.

The governor has long championed Dirigo Health, which he said helps working families, small businesses and the self-employed.

The Maine Democratic Party, acknowledging the people's veto efforts aimed at Dirigo, issued a statement saying Dirigo has saved Mainers $110 million in health care costs.

"Any effort to repeal recent funding legislation would seriously threaten what has been a critical safety net for individuals, families, and small businesses that otherwise would likely not be able to afford insurance at all,'' the statement said.

http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/ea ... /89821.htm

Where do they stand?
By DIANE WETZEL, The North Platte Telegraph
05/08/2008
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Mike Johanns said yes. Scott Kleeb said no.

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The question: Are you willing to tell citizens your positions on the issues you will most likely face on their behalf?

The question, known as the Political Courage Test, conducted by Project Vote Smart, was posed to all Nebraska candidates for Congress and the state legislature. Only 16 percent of Nebraska’s primary candidates for the state legislature were willing to respond to questions on issues that are of top concern to the state’s voters. Of primary candidates for Congress, only 22 percent said they would respond to questions about the death penalty, employment of undocumented immigrants, access to health care and the REAL ID Act.

Vote Smart has discovered that party leaders and consultants are advising candidates not to respond to the Courage test for two primary reasons, said Richard Kimball, president of Project Vote Smart. It limits the candidate’s ability to control their campaign messages and exposes them to opposition research.

[b]“If candidates are afraid of letting their opponents know where they stand on key issues, how can they possibly let the voters know how they will handle the job if elected?â€