GOP opposes a bill aimed at cutting recidivism by easing first days out of jail.

Valid state-issued identification, something many people take for granted, may be missing for some California residents – those getting out of prison.

Some lawmakers hope to change that with Assembly Bill 2099, which would set up a test program at three prisons with the goal of handing a valid state ID to parolees before they walk out the front gates.

"This is a very simple, sensible, small step to help former prisoners reintegrate into society and become tax-paying citizens," said the bill's author, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley. "If only two parolees don't return to prison, this program will pay for itself."

Legislative analysts peg the cost of the test program at $55,000. Housing two prisoners for a year costs about $71,000.

The bill cleared the Assembly and is pending in the Senate. But the idea doesn't sit well with Republicans, who have opposed Hancock's measure.

"I don't think that parolees should be able to jump the DMV line and get special treatment at the cost of taxpayers," said Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-Alpine. "It's $55,000 that we shouldn't be spending to give special privileges to parolees. … I wouldn't give them two cents."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last year vetoed a similar Hancock bill. The governor's veto message acknowledged the value of identification for parolees, but complained the bill "will result in parolees receiving services that are not currently available to the general public." Spokesperson Lisa Page said the governor had no position on the new bill.

The latest version of the bill leaves the details, including how to deal with parolees' potential lack of an address, to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The department and the DMV are working on a program for Folsom State Prison.

Frank Russell, director of education, vocations and offender programs for the Corrections Department, said parolees' lack of access to identification is an unrecognized problem.

"The most critical time of a parolee's experience are the first hours and days of his parole," Russell said. "Meanwhile, the guy's got no job and no ability to identify who he is."

Russell pointed out successful programs in other states, such as Project Rio in Texas, that provide parolees with identification.

Robert Robinson, senior case manager with the United African American Ministerial Action Council, based in San Diego, said valid ID could only help a parolee's chance of staying out of jail.

"I see that the recidivism is right there waiting if they get frustrated and go back to the lifestyle or whatever it was they were doing," Robinson said, who also testified in the Senate Public Safety Committee on behalf of the bill.

Hancock said that she would work closely with the governor's office to find common ground on the issue.

"The system is breaking the budget for the state of California," she said. "This is about the smallest and simplest thing we can do."