Concord – The New Hampshire Senate yesterday turned aside an effort to bar the state from taking part in the national Real ID program.

Instead, it voted 14-9 for an amendment to House Bill 1582 that lets the state proceed with a Real ID compliance program and sets up a commission to study the national bill.

The amendment by Sen. Jack Barnes, R-Raymond, won wide support among Republicans, only two of whom sided with Democrats in opposing the amendment.

The state’s debate on the issue has been watched closely by civil libertarians around New Hampshire and the nation. The bill that easily passed the House drew support from the Cato Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Real ID requires states to comply by May 2008 with a standard method of documenting each application for a driver’s license. Birth certificates, lease agreements and other proof of identity and address will be required. A bar coding system on all licenses will also be put into place.

Democrats fought for the bill, saying the state can easily opt back into the system at a later date if other states comply. They rejected warnings that New Hampshire residents would be barred from airplanes and federal buildings, saying that possibility is too far in the future to worry about when personal freedoms are at stake now.

Sen. Robert Letourneau, R-Derry, said the state is already at near full compliance with the bill. It lacks only a new training program for workers, the uniform bar coding, a temporary license program and a computer update. “It’s not a national ID. It’s a driver’s license that meets national standards,” he said.

Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, who helped turn the tide in the House to support the bill, said he was disappointed by the Senate vote. But he said the fight against Real ID will continue in a committee of conference later this month.

“I think the Senate misread the people of New Hampshire, who don’t want this,” he said.

The vote also sets the stage for a meeting of the Legislative Fiscal Committee today, when the first piece of business involves accepting a $3 million federal grant to move the state closer to full compliance as part of a pilot project.

Sen. Peter Burling, D-Cornish, urged the Senate to reject the study idea and the pilot funding, which he called “sucker money.”

“We need to be true to our state motto. We need to be true to our citizens,” he said.

But those in favor of the bill pointed out that the bi-partisan 9-11 Commission made a national standard for driver’s licenses one of its key recommendations.

Barnes, noting the death this week of a Salem Marine in Iraq, said: “We are at war. In wartime, government, in my opinion, has to take certain steps.”

Sen. Chuck Morse, R-Salem, said he trusts the state’s congressional delegation, which voted for the bill that was attached to a hurricane relief bill.

“Sen. (Judd) Gregg has never let us down,” said Morse. “I find it hard to believe that he would put us in a position as a pilot state and not provide enough money to do the program.”

The suspicion that the Senate would not pass the bill prompted the House yesterday to attach the language of HB 1582 to an unrelated Senate bill. The bill provides the Health and Human Services Commissioner powers over public gatherings and quarantine orders in times of a pandemic, such as avian flu.

Voting with Democrats to pass the bill opting the state out of Real ID were Sen. John Gallus, R-Berlin, and Sen. Peter Bragdon, R-Milford.

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