The Missouri House overwhelmingly voted yesterday to refuse to follow a federal law setting national standards for driver’s licenses.

The federal Real ID Act passed in 2005 after officials learned that some of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorists had obtained legitimate driver’s licenses. The law will link state records to a national database and set standard state licensing rules.

Supporters say the standards are needed to prevent terrorists and illegal immigrants from getting fake identification cards.

Rep. Jim Guest said the federal law is an invasion of privacy and could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. He worries that a provision requiring licenses to contain "common machine readable technology" could result in a Big Brother kind of system with the government able to track a person’s every move through a computer chip.

"We must not lose what this nation was founded upon," said Guest, R-King City. "The Real ID Act is a direct frontal assault on our freedoms."

But there also could be a cost to not following the law. State licenses that fail to meet Real ID standards won’t be acceptable for various activities, including boarding an airplane and entering a federal building.

That’s why Guest said he is working with lawmakers in more than 30 other states to pass similar measures, in hopes of forcing Congress to back off.

States were expected to comply by May 2008. But earlier this month, the Bush administration agreed to grant states an extension until Dec. 31, 2009, to follow the new driver’s license standards.

The House passed a resolution 146-4 opposing the federal requirements and prohibiting Missouri agencies from implementing them. The measure moves to the Senate for further consideration.

Missouri already passed a law a couple of years ago requiring people to prove they are lawfully in the country when they obtain or renew a driver’s license.