Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
During this last month of WERU’s 20th Anniversary year, we’re digging into old editions from the Electronic Cottage vault that seem to us to be just as relevant today as they were when they were first broadcast. This edition from June of 2008 may even be more relevant today. It discusses the federal Real ID Act, a law that would essentially establish a national ID card for the first time in American history. Maine was the first state to pass a law saying that the state would not participate in the federal Real ID Act. That law is still on the books but when push came to shove last year, under pressure from the Department of Homeland Security, the governor and a bare majority of legislators passed two laws that bring the Real ID Act to Maine despite the Maine law saying the state would not participate. Now there is a bill in the Maine legislature, LD 1357, that would repeal Maine’s Real ID law. (Note that there is currently no effort underway to collect signatures for a people’s veto as mentioned in this edition from the archives.)