Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner's Real ID Act would force states to stop issuing licenses to illegal immigrants. Utah is one of 11 states that don't require proof of legal residency.
Utah would have three years to get up to speed with the new federal mandates.
If it doesn't, Utahns wouldn't be allowed to use their state license as a federal identification for anything from flying on a plane to entering a secure federal building.
Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said his objective is to make it more difficult for potential terrorists to travel the country and blend in.
"American citizens have the right to know who is in their country, that people are who they say they are, and that the name on the driver's license is the real holder's name, not some alias," he said.
Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, continues to have concerns about federal mandates and the potential for an intrusion on privacy.
Under Sensenbrenner's proposal, the driver licenses would have to be machine-readable, either through a bar code or magnetic strip, and states would have to share data in their state databases in order to qualify for federal grants.
"I don't like having states told what they have to do and then making huge national mistakes . . . and secondly, I don't want to see a national ID," Cannon said.
Nonetheless, he said he sees the need for "law-and-order" immigration reform and hopes changes could be made to the bill to make it work.
Utah Rep. Rob Bishop plans to vote for the legislation. Rep. Jim Matheson has not decided how he will vote.
State Rep. Glenn Donnelson is sponsoring a bill in the Utah Legislature that would prohibit illegal immigrants from obtaining a driver license.
Applicants would be required to show a birth certificate or some other form to prove that they are in the United States legally. Rep. Curtis Oda, R-Clearfield, also is sponsoring a similar bill.
Col. Claron Brenchley, spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety, said there is an argument to be made that denying illegal immigrants a license doesn't deter immigration or keep them from driving.
"They're going to be driving, it's better to enable them to get a license so they can get insurance . . . plus we take their picture, so we always have a fairly good idea who's here," he said.
According to the National Immigration Law Center, after Utah and New Mexico began issuing licenses to undocumented immigrants, the rates of uninsured motorists dropped by a third.
