Otter blasts ID bill he co-sponsored
BOISE – Idaho Gov. Butch Otter spoke out against the Real ID Act of 2005 on Thursday – a bill he co-sponsored when he was a congressman.
Otter described the legislation as a “terrible idea” that came from his own Republican Party, a $39-million boondoggle for the state of Idaho and akin to the original Patriot Act, which he opposed. “This beats it all,” he told the City Club of Boise.
Otter, who served three terms in Congress, was one of 140 co-sponsors of HR 418 in 2005, according to congressional records. The bill requires states to standardize their driver’s licenses and requires the new standardized IDs for people to enter federal facilities or board commercial flights.
State lawmakers in Idaho and other states have been railing against the federal law. The Idaho House voted 69-0 on Tuesday in favor of a nonbinding memorial to Congress, sponsored by Rep. Phil Hart, R-Athol, opposing the Real ID plan as an “unfunded mandate” and a “backdoor attempt to institute a national ID card.” A memorial is a message from the Legislature to Congress.
The measure is now pending in the state Senate.
Otter acknowledged that he voted for the bill as a congressman and said, initially, it didn’t sound like it would much affect Idaho. Otter said the bill appeared to simply require certain information to be on every driver’s license, and he determined that Idaho licenses already had that information. “Well, the devil is in the details,” he said.
Otter said he didn’t realize that extensive changes would be required, including reissuing every Idaho driver’s license at a cost of $39 million, and another $4 million a year cost to maintain the new state system. “It’s $39 million, quite frankly, that I think we could use in the education system, or I’d put that into the endowment for scholarships,” Otter said.
The governor said under the law, passports would be acceptable for those without state IDs that comply with the new law. “I got to thinking, 39 million bucks – I could almost buy everybody in Idaho a passport rather than go through that 39 million bucks,” Otter said.
At the end of his talk to the City Club of Boise, Otter took questions. Asked what he thinks about the Bush administration’s latest proposal to sell off federal forest lands in Idaho, Otter said, “I sat in that bear trap once, and I don’t think…” Laughter filled in as he trailed off.
Asked if he supports early childhood education, Otter said, “I am supportive of prekindergarten education, but not at the state level.” Otter said he wouldn’t support funding early childhood education until the state is “adequately funding K-12.”
Looking back on his first seven weeks in office, Otter said the thing that has surprised him the most is how “graciously forgiving” Idahoans are.
“They’ll forgive you for making a mistake, but they won’t forgive you for not making a decision and move forward,” he said. “That’s what we’ve tried to do in these seven weeks.”