HARRISBURG -- PennDOT officials say they cannot meet a federally mandated deadline of 2008 for making extensive and expensive changes in procedures for issuing driver's licenses.

And Pennsylvania isn't alone, Deputy PennDOT Secretary Betty Serian said yesterday. Every state is facing massive administrative and technical headaches in trying to prepare computerized identification databases to comply with an anti-terrorism law called the Real ID Act, which was passed by Congress last May.

"There is a lot of confusion and concern [among transportation officials] because there is a lack of clarity about the act. There are many unknowns,'' Ms. Serian said. She considers the 2008 deadline for all states to comply "impossible and unrealistic.''

She said that the federal Department of Homeland Security, which is overseeing the new driver's license law, "needs to come up with regulations to clarify a lot of the unknowns in the act.''

Also concerned are some conservatives, immigration rights activists and civil libertarians, who fear the new law will force the compilation of a new national database of personal information on Americans that could be misused.

"The opposition to this law is so broad and is becoming broader as more people figure out what it means to them and what it would cost, that there is a very good chance that we can force Congress to take it up again,'' said Larry Frankel, legislative director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania.

The new law was passed by Congress to try to keep people, especially terrorists, from obtaining a driver's license fraudulently or illegally, as was done in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

The goal of the law, which is set to take effect in 2008, is to make sure that all states use the same information gathering and identification verification procedures, rather than the differing rules used now.

The law imposes new, expensive federal regulations on the design, issuance and management of driver's licenses in all 50 states.

But Ms. Serian said the law could cost Pennsylvania alone up to $100 million, and yet so far only $40 million has been provided by Congress for all 50 states.

She cited other problems with the Real ID Act.

First, Pennsylvania and every other state must verify that the documents a person uses to get a driver's license -- usually a birth certificate, a Social Security card, a U.S. passport or a military ID -- are the actual documents issued by the issuing agency.

That's a special problem with birth certificates, she said, because they aren't computerized and decades have often passed since they were issued. She said it would be impossible for PennDOT to go to thousands of municipalities throughout the nation to verify that the birth certificate presented by John Doe at a PennDOT office is Mr. Doe's actual birth record.

Birth certificates "are not computerized. Those systems for verification don't exist,'' Ms. Serian said.

Also, a PennDOT official would have to verify the authenticity of a foreign passport or immigration document. "There is no system that exists to verify a foreign passport,'' she added.

The federal law also requires PennDOT to verify a license applicant's current address.

With the thousands of people who go to PennDOT offices each month, the lines of people waiting for such verification would be enormous, she said.

"The verification requirements of this law are vexing and impossible to comply with,'' she said.

Another concern is that the federal law requires states to connect their record-keeping systems to national databases in order to make it easier to spot duplicate applications for driver's licenses from state to state.

"That would be a major cost,'' Ms. Serian said.

Serious concerns about the federal licensing changes were voiced by several state transportation administrators in interviews with The Associated Press.

A survey of transportation administrators nationwide was conducted by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

A Nebraska official told the AP that her state "may have to consider extreme measures and possibly a complete reorganization'' to comply with the law.

Mr. Frankel, the ACLU official, is worried about creating a national database for driver's licenses because violations of privacy could occur if information is released improperly during state-to-state information sharing.

"We've all been saying that Real ID will be a real disaster and needs to be revisited by Congress,'' he said.

Ms. Serian added, "The concept of the law is good, but the application of the law on the frontlines is a big concern.''