DENVER -- Gov. Bill Ritter vetoed a bill Friday that would have relaxed tough identification rules for getting a driver's license, saying the rules had already been eased and that the law would have interfered with executive branch authority.

Ritter also vetoed four other bills but signed 14 into law, including a package designed to crack down on fraud in mortgage lending and foreclosures.

The driver's license ID measure (House Bill 1313) would have broadened the list of documents the state would accept as proof of identity to get a license. Lawmakers and others had said rules issued under then-Gov. Bill Owens made too few documents acceptable.

In his veto message, Ritter agreed the list had been too narrow, making it hard on some people to get licenses, even though they qualified.

But he said the Revenue Department, which oversees driver's licenses, this week issued new rules expanding the list of documents the state will accept.

"A legislative fix is not the proper remedy to this problem," he said. "Though its goals were laudable, House Bill 1313 would have supplanted the Department of Revenue's rule-making authority."

Opposition to the legislation grew to a fever pitch in recent weeks with the Aurora Sentinel, Durango Herald, Fort Collins Coloradan, Pueblo Chieftain, Rocky Mountain News, the Denver Post and the Grand Junction Sentinel using their editorial pages to urge a veto.

During a news conference at the State Capitol last month, Secretary of State Mike Coffman and former Gov. Dick Lamm and members of the law enforcement community called on Ritter to veto the legislation.

"This bill presents a clear security threat to our nation," Lamm had said.

"I applaud Gov. Ritter’s veto of House Bill 1313," Coffman said. "This bill would have threatened public safety by weakening the integrity of Colorado’s driver’s license as an identification document."

The mortgage-fraud measures that Ritter signed require the state to license and regulate mortgage brokers. They also bar brokers from misleading borrowers and from trying to influence appraisers to inflate the value of a home, which could in turn lead buyers to borrow more than they should or can afford.

Another bill Ritter signed requires the state to track complaints and enforcement actions against title-insurance providers.

Ritter vetoed four other bills Friday. One would have changed state ethics laws to conform with rules approved by the voters last fall. Ritter said he vetoed the bill because a judge on Thursday issued an order barring enforcement of some of those rules.

The other vetoed bills would have expanded the reasons for sealing someone's criminal records, changed rules for Medicaid reimbursement to hospitals and created a state database of interior designers who have private certification in their field.