When the Legislature’s most liberal and most conservative members agree on something controversial, should we be alarmed or impressed?

But there they were – Republican Sen. Val Stevens of Lake Stevens and Democratic Sen. Adam Klein of Seattle – lined up against a federal program called Real ID. Senate Bill 5087 told the feds that Washington isn’t interested in taking part in a response to the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

In fact, only four senators and two House members voted against the bill, which said the state wouldn’t create a new driver’s license unless Congress paid the cost and only if privacy concerns were resolved first.

Washington is one of four states to opt out of Real ID, though other states are considering it. The revolt comes even though some of the 9/11 hijackers used illegally obtained driver’s licenses, and subsequently the 9/11 Commission recommended tougher and uniform license standards.

There was something for nearly everyone to hate – costs, unfunded federal mandates, burdens on the Department of Licensing and license applicants, the threats to privacy and the specter of a bigger and more intrusive government.

Here’s what Real ID would mean: Within a five-year period, every driver would have to show up at a driver’s license office with original identification documents. That would include an original birth certificate, immigration documents, a Social Security card, utility bills to verify home address, and photo identification. Rough estimates of the cost for Washington alone is about $255 million in the first six years and 300 additional employees.

State workers would then have to verify those documents by checking them against databases created by the federal government and the other states. Copies would be stored electronically and held for 10 years.

If you think your time at the licensing office is long now, wait until Real ID.

“Our driver’s training people will be so busy making sure you’re who you say you are, will they have time to make sure you’re a safe driver?” said Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, the prime sponsor of SB 5087. The Camano Island Democrat said she was equally concerned about the security of all that personal information.

“The more people learn about this, the more they will be concerned,” Haugen said. “The driver’s license is a license to drive a car, and we’re trying to make it a national ID card.”

One way out for Washington is the Super License that the United States and Canadian governments are considering testing in Washington and British Columbia. The voluntary license would replace a requirement that passports be shown at the border. But not everyone will go to the trouble and expense of getting such a license.

The act of rebellion contained in SB 5087 comes at some risk. Federal agencies, including the Transportation Security Administration, will not acknowledge licenses from states that opt out. That means by 2010 – unless deadlines are extended again – a Washington license won’t be good enough to board an airplane or enter a federal building.

And if one section of the proposed immigration reform passes, a Real ID license or a passport would be needed to get a job.

Haugen said she doesn’t think it will come to that.

“It never had a hearing,” she said. “I think if they’d had a hearing, it wouldn’t have passed Congress.”

But Rep. Glenn Anderson, a Fall City Republican who voted against the bill, said state officials are in denial if they believe Real ID will not be implemented. The Bush administration favors it and congressional Democrats ran in 2006 on implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

“It may get stretched out but it’s not going away,” he said. “Yes, it is expensive. But we have an obligation in a practical and political sense to address this issue.”

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com