WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday it is working with Maine and is encouraged by the efforts of the state’s leaders to move forward with procedures called for within the Real ID Act, which establishes national standards for state-issued driver’s licenses.

“We want to make sure that at a minimum the states are moving forward in good faith to comply with the procedures called for in the Real ID Act, regardless of whether they want to say they are complying with the act,” said Laura Keehner, a spokeswoman for the department. “Some states are reluctant in calling it Real ID, but regardless of what they call it, we want them to move forward with the procedures.”

Of 18 procedures outlined in the act, Maine meets or partially meets 10 of them.

The department’s response comes a day after Gov. John Baldacci sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff requesting that Maine residents not be penalized for not complying with the act.

The Maine Legislature passed a law last year, signed by the governor, that prohibits the state from complying with the act.

“While the development of the rules, policies and procedures have taken longer than had originally been anticipated, the state of Maine has moved vigorously in the meantime to improve the security of its credentials,” Baldacci said in his letter without directly saying the state would comply.

The deadline to request a waiver to give states more time to comply with the act is Monday, March 31.

Nationally, the switch-over to the new IDs would not be complete until 2017, but stringent rules would apply as early as May 11 to driver’s license-holders from states that are not complying with the law and have not sought a waiver. Such an extension would give states until the end of 2009 before they would need to start issuing new licenses.

The stakes for many Mainers include personal privacy concerns and potentially having to go through extra layers of security when traveling by airplane or entering federal buildings.

Maine is the second state to send a letter requesting a waiver without indicating that the state will comply with the act. Montana’s Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer sent a similar letter and was granted a waiver last week.

South Carolina and New Hampshire also have not sought waivers. New Hampshire has asked to be exempted from the act, but the department has not yet granted the state an extension.

The department is reviewing Baldacci’s request for a waiver, Keehner said.