By Lisa Friedman

Faced with having to pay $500 million for new federally mandated driver's licenses aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, California officials are looking to the upcoming Democratic Congress for financial relief.

And they may find it in a Senate bill that essentially would repeal the so-called "Real ID" law, condemning it as an "unrealistic and unfunded burden on state governments."

Introduced by Sens. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and John Sununu, R-N.H., the bill would eliminate a cascade of federal driver's license standards that Congress passed last year and that states must implement by May 2008.

In its place, the senators would set up a process that lets states and the federal government jointly create new license standards.

"There is nothing realistic about `Real ID,"' Akaka said in a speech on the Senate floor.

"Real ID" was championed by Rep. David Dreier, R-Glendora, as a means of protecting the country from terrorists.

Aimed at preventing states from issuing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, it requires states to verify the legal status of all applicants or risk having the state's licenses banned for such federal uses as boarding an airplane.

It passed when Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who until this month chaired the House Judiciary Committee, attached it to an emergency measure granting funding to tsunami victims.

Since then, states such as California have been on a rampage against the measure. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, "Real ID" is expected to cost states about $11 billion over the next five years.

So far, Congress has appropriated $40million.

"The costs associated with it are out of reach for California," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, who was in Washington recently to lobby for federal funding.

"My hope is that Congress will roll it back," he said.

Nunez and others estimated the state will have to spend at least $500 million to prepare for the approximately 15 million Californians who will have to go to their local Department of Motor Vehicle office for a new license.

"Every individual who currently has a driver's license will have to come in and re-enroll as if they were a brand-new applicant," said Jeremy Meadows, senior policy director for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Meadows also noted that because DMV officials would have to personally inspect birth certificates and other documents for authenticity, all of the technological innovations developed over the past few years - such as online registration - would be unusable.

"We view this as largely a federal mandate, and the federal government needs to at least ante up for the cost of this requirement," Meadows said.

But conservatives and others concerned about illegal immigration called the effort to repeal the law a threat to national security.

"Anything that we do to backpedal on securing the nation against terrorist attacks is a step in the wrong direction," said Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Thousand Oaks.

"Remember, the Democrats campaigned on implementing all of the 9/11 Commission recommendations immediately. `Real ID' came out of a 9/11 recommendation," added Sensenbrenner spokesman Jeff Lungren.

For Democrats to repeal the bill, he charged, would be "hypocritical and shocking."

"Everyone has a responsibility as it relates to costs," Gallegly said. "We can discuss that as we move through this and find out what the actual costs are."

Some activists such as Meadows warn that the federal government won't put anything into effect before June, when many state legislatures will already be out of session and unable to set funding levels.

For now, all eyes are on the Department of Homeland Security, which has not yet issued required regulations for the standards.

Akaka vowed that he would review the regulations before pursuing action on his bill.

No action has been proposed in the House and for now, California's U.S. senators - Democrats Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein - also remain noncommittal.

In the meantime, California DMV spokesman Mike Marando said the state is not waiting for the possibility of new congressional action.

"We're dealing in California as if (`Real ID' is) going to be a go, and we're preparing accordingly," Marando said.