General Assembly passes BMV reform bill

Hoosiers might soon have an easier time renewing their driver's licenses.\nMoments before Sunday's midnight deadline to adjourn the 2001 legislative session, lawmakers sent a Bureau of Motor Vehicles reform bill to the desk of Gov. Frank O'Bannon.\nO'Bannon's press secretary Thad Nation said the governor should sign the bill in a few weeks, after he has time to review it. The legislation comes as a result of a bipartisan committee's two-year study.\n"Although the bill contains numerous reforms and revisions, I am pleased that we have finally reached a consensus on what needs to be accomplished in order to update and improve branches across the state," Rep. Ron Liggett, D-Redkey, said. "The study committee has spent years on researching what it takes to improve license branch services, and I am confident that these changes are some of the most beneficial for Indiana."\nThe bill -- authored by Liggett -- would establish a fund to provide new technology that would allow people to apply for or renew several types of licenses over the Internet or through mail. Under the legislation, customers would be able to register or renew their licenses in any county.\nIt implements a 50-cent fee for some transactions to pay for the upgrades.\n"It's going to allow us to expand into the next age of technology," BMV spokesperson Kelly Duncan. "We want to improve customer service in whatever way we can."\nBut it's not the only added fee customers will be paying. Last Thursday, the BMV approved a schedule of 164 fee increases that is expected to raise $40 million to pave over a $7 million deficit. The bureau is now borrowing from the motor vehicle highway fund -- taxpayer money that's supposed to go to fixing roads.\nAs of Jan. 1, fees for most transactions will rise $3, $5 to $7 if late. Once signed into law, the 50-cent increase would go into effect at the start of the next budget cycle beginning July 1st.\nBesides upgrading technology, the bill would also introduce a staggered schedule for license plate renewals that would require customers to come in over the course of the month, instead of at the end. Lawmakers and state officials hope this will cut back on the end-of-the-month lines that have plagued license branches for years.\n"We don't have any exact figures," Duncan said. "But we reasonably expect to cut the lines in half." \nLawmakers removed a provision from the bill that would have merged the BMV with the quasi-independent BMV Commission that oversees license branches. It was unclear what the move would cost and whether it would improve service.\nDemocratic supporters of the mergers said it would ultimately cut red tape and save money. But Republicans expressed the fear that eliminating the commission would risk a return to the political patronage rampant in the license branches before the late 1980s.