Rep. Scott Lansley, R-Sabattus, was on a Portland radio station recently, asserting that the REAL ID act, the law dealing with driver’s license security, would require the imbedding of a radio frequency ID chip in our driver’s licenses.

That is false.

While it initially did call for the RFID chip, the subsequent interim rules dropped this requirement in favor of a bar code. Those interim rules were published in March 2007, 10 months ago.

Rep. Lansley is a bit behind the curve!

The final rules were published last month and the requirements for a bar code (no chip) are stated in section 37.19: “States must use the PDf417 2D bar code standard.”

Maybe Rep. Lansley shouldn’t be getting his talking points from the Maine Civil Liberties Union.

Robert Casimiro, Center Lovell

Editor’s Note: The author is executive director of Mainers for a Sensible Immigration Policy.