AUGUSTA, Maine - Gov. Paul LePage has signed into law legislation aimed at bringing Maine into compliance with the federal Real ID program.
The measure was sponsored by Sen. Bill Diamond, a Windham Democrat.
“Homeland security has told me twice that they will - the minute the governor signs this, which he did about an hour ago - they will drop all enforcements and consider us on the way to compliance.”
Diamond says Mainers will now be able to use their existing drivers’ licenses to gain access to certain federal facilities and to board an airplane. He says the new law will allow Mainers to opt out of the new license.
“Everybody I think realized that this has to be done and so we all had to work together on this because of the chaos that would rain down on our citizens," he says, "which would just be unbelievable.”
