I.D. switch would cost Hawaii millions

Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - 7:25 PM HAST Monday, March 26, 2007

A federal proposal to require all states to standardize the data contained on their drivers licenses would cost Hawaii $25 million in five years, a Senate committee was told Monday.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann testified before the Senate homeland security subcommittee that the law as now configured would cost the City and County of Honolulu more than $7 million in the first year alone.

"Honolulu is in a unique position, the only city that produces driver licenses for an entire state," said Hannemann.

He said Honolulu has about 85 employees just doing driver's licenses now.

"Obviously," he said, "we're going to have to ramp that up."

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, who chairs the homeland security panel, has introduced a measure with Sen. John Sununu (R-N.H.) that would provide federal funding for the project, called REAL I.D.

The original legislation, attached to an emergency war spending bill in 2005, requires people to get a federally approved REAL ID card to enter federal buildings and board airplanes. But cost isn't Akaka's only concern.

"The massive amounts of personal information that would be stored in interconnected databases, as well as on the card, could provide one-stop shopping for identity thieves," he said.

Another witness at Monday's hearing was Richard Barth, the assistant secretary for policy in the Department of Homeland Security. Akaka asked him what happens to interisland fliers who want to visit families if Hawaii opts out of REAL I.D.

"We're looking at various solutions," Barth said. "We're looking at alternative documentation."

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