McALLEN, January 22 - With a long-awaited opinion, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott appears to have opened the way for Texas to start an enhanced driver’s license pilot program.

Through Col. Thomas A. Davis, Jr., director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, Gov. Rick Perry had asked Abbott if an enhanced driver's license conflicts with federal law. The licenses would be used for the purpose of crossing the border between Texas and Mexico.

In the eight-page opinion, Abbott said an enhanced driver’s license is consistent with the current federal law on passports provided it is approved by the Homeland Security Secretary and conforms to the technology, security, and operational requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI).

Supporters of the enhanced driver's license, including state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, and the Texas Border Coalition (TBC), have argued that neither of those concerns were in in doubt because Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has been pushing states to embrace enhanced driver’s licenses for months.

In a summary of his opinion, released Tuesday, Abbott states:

Section 521.032 of the Texas Transportation Code requires an enhanced driver's license to be supported by an applicant's proof of citizenship, identity, and state residency, and to include a one-to-many biometric matching system as well as reasonable security and encryption measures. A section 521.032 enhanced driver's license is consistent with current federal law regarding passports if: (1) the license is "determined ... by the Secretary of Homeland Security to be sufficient to denote identity and citizenship"; and (2) the license conforms to the technology, security, and operational requirements of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative implemented under section 7209(b)of Public Law 108-458, such as being machine readable and tamper proof.

WHTI is a homeland security measure passed by Congress in 2004. Under WHTI, the government is ending the routine practice of accepting oral declarations of citizenship alone at land and sea ports for U.S. citizens returning from Mexico, Canada, and Bermuda. Instead, U.S. passport or other documents approved by DHS must be shown.

An enhanced driver’s license not only denotes identity and citizenship, but also responds to the operational concerns of U.S. Customs and Border Protection by having compatible technology and security criteria.

Chertoff has been pushing the concept of an enhanced driver’s license as an alternative form of ID to a passport for over a year. Some states have already entered into Memorandum of Agreement arrangements with DHS. The first to do so was the state of Washington, which last March signed an MOA with DHS to develop, issue, test, and evaluate an enhanced driver’s license and identification card.

Washington state officials want enhanced driver’s licenses in place for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, so that American tourists visiting the event can get back into the country without difficulty.

Within days of reading about Washington State’s plan, Shapleigh filed legislation to introduce an enhanced driver’s license pilot program in Texas. It quickly won support from TBC, an advocacy group comprising cities, counties and economic development corporations from El Paso to Brownsville.

Under Shapleigh’s bill, the new licenses would include radio frequency ID chips and other advanced security features. Shapleigh said that not only would the new licenses be less vulnerable to forgery but also, at about $40, less expensive than a $97 passport.

“Our border is the most vibrant region of the hemisphere with over 68 million legal crossings a year. With passport requirements coming soon, we need to make secure, fast crossings work for all who live and work in our region,” Shapleigh said, in support of his bill.

Shapleigh’s bill was quashed thanks to behind the scenes lobbying by DPS and Perry’s office. However, Shapleigh succeeded in getting the provision attached to SB 11, the major homeland security bill of the session.

Perry passed SB 11 into law in June but made a point of expressing concern about the enhanced driver’s license provision.

“Although I am signing this bill, it is important to point out the provision in Senate Bill No. 11 which allows the Department of Public Safety to create an enhanced driver's license to cross the Texas-Mexico border,” Perry said at the time.

“This provision conflicts with current federal law which states that a United States passport must be used to cross international borders. While frequent travelers to Mexico argue that the use of a passport creates an unnecessary burden, this is not a decision to be made at the state level.”

Perry said he would ask for an opinion from the Texas Attorney General’s office in order to “clarify this issue for the state.” The request for an opinion came from Col. Davis.

In November, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, joined border mayors and lawmakers in the push to get the enhanced driver’s license pilot program started to ease congestion at land ports on the Texas-Mexico border.

In a letter sent to Chertoff, Cornyn asked for a status report on the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that Gov. Rick Perry, on behalf of the state, was entering into with DHS.

“I would like to know when you anticipate signing the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Governor Rick Perry to pilot an enhanced driver’s license (EDL) for U.S. citizens,” Cornyn wrote.

“I support this pilot program and believe it will facilitate the ability of U.S. citizens to quickly meet the new WHTI requirements.”

At the time, Perry spokesperson Krista Moody acknowledged that Perry and Chertoff were in communication over the enhanced driver’s license pilot program but said it was too early to say if an MOA would be signed.

“Steps still need to be taken,” Moody said. “He (Perry) thinks it's a worthwhile program, but he needs assurances that it falls within the scope of federal law,” Moody said.

Moody said Abbott is focusing on whether the program will meet federal passport requirements before they can decide whether it is lawful.

At meetings of Perry’s Border Security Council in October, Steve McCraw, Texas’ homeland security director, said he backed the enhanced driver’s license pilot program.

In an omnibus spending bill passed in December, Congress appropriated $50 million for states to apply for, in order to set up an enhanced driver’s license pilot program. At the time, Shapleigh urged Perry to apply for some of the funds.

“If the U.S. and Canada can agree on the need for enhanced driver’s licenses, so can Texas,” Shapleigh said. “Texas has 1,200 miles of border with Mexico and handles 80 percent of all trade with Mexico. That exceeds all our trade with the European Union.”