By Richard Stradling for The Raleigh News & Observer
An estimated 300,000 North Carolinians would be able to avoid a trip to the Division of Motor Vehicles each year under a bill approved by House lawmakers on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 245 would allow residents to renew a license or identification card two consecutive times online, as long as their credential is not a REAL ID. That means someone who gets a standard driver’s license, good for eight years, could go 24 years without having to return to a DMV office. Under current law, drivers must renew in person at a DMV office at least every 16 years, which would still be the case for people with a REAL ID.
The bill would also eliminate a visit to the DMV for tens of thousands of teens each year who are seeking to obtain their full provisional license.
State law now requires teens under 18 going through the graduated licensing process to visit a DMV office three times, first to receive a learner’s permit, then twice more for limited and full provisional licenses. That last visit is to present a log showing the teen has completed 12 hours of driving under various circumstances.
The bill would eliminate the need to complete the 12-hour log and to make the third visit. With the rest of the graduated license system in tact, the changes will not make driving less safe, said Mark Ezzell, director of the N.C. Governor’s Highway Safety Program.
“The full provisional licensing in-person visit has been largely perfunctory to prove to DMV that the final log has been completed and to complete other paperwork,” Ezzell wrote in an email. “Completing that paperwork online rather than in person won’t impact traffic safety.”
General Assembly takes on DMV problems
The DMV has been plagued by long lines and wait times at its driver’s license offices for years. Lawmakers have made fixing those problems a priority this session. The budget bill sent to Gov. Josh Stein this week includes money to hire new driver’s license examiners and open new offices, steps the agency says it needs to keep up with the state’s growing population.
The bill approved by the House Wednesday is another attempt by lawmakers to reduce the DMV’s workload, by reducing trips to a driver’s license office. Earlier this month, Stein signed a bill that allows people to drive with an expired license for up to two years, so they can delay a trip to the DMV.
But that license renewal moratorium could create problems for people who travel out of state with an expired license or use their license for other purposes, such as rent a car, said Rep. Reece Pyrtle Jr., a Republican from Rockingham County.
“There’s several things that you can’t do with an expired driver’s license,” Pyrtle told House members. “Instead of trying to go and fix all those, let’s try to address the driver’s license.”
The House approved the bill 109-7 and sent it on to the Senate. Rep. Abe Jones, a Democrat from Wake, said there’s little argument over the need to fix the DMV.
“There are lot of things we disagree on. But I don’t think we disagree on this,” Jones said. “We need to get it worked out so the citizens of North Carolina can go get their license without waiting for three or four hours. We can beat this. This is not hard.”
House Speaker Destin Hall said it’s not clear yet if the General Assembly will need to do more to help solve the problems at the DMV. It depends on “how these things are implemented,” Hall told reporters Wednesday.
“It’s just not acceptable for somebody to have to spend their entire day off going to a DMV. Can’t think of much worse,” he said. “It’s something we’ve got to get a hold on and figure out some comprehensive reforms and solve the issue. I mean, it just continues and it’s been that way for a long time, and we need to do what we can to fix it.”