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Privatization of the DMV RENO, NV Sept. 30  Record-long lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles have recently become the norm, as state workers struggle to bring a new computer system on line. A Nevada State Assemblywoman says it all could have been prevented if legislators had adopted her plan during the last session.

Earlier this year, Assemblywoman Sharron Angle authored an assembly bill that would have privatized many DMV services like drivers licenses, issuance of license plates and I.D. cards. Her plan was shot down and instead, she says, the state bought the Genesis system. Legislators say the Genesis computer system was already on the way when Angles plan was introduced. State officials say the Genesis system will eventually accomplish a lot of what she was proposing. But currently, the new computer system has slowed down the process significantly and Angle insists it didnt have to happen. Its time to get some answers and do some housecleaning at the DMV, said Angle. She says the Genesis computer system has proved to be a failure, with long lines and confusion reigning at the department of motor vehicles. Angle says that the $32 million cost of the system means those state officials will never admit Genesis was a mistake. If they stop now, what about the money? They cant. John Drew, the Director of DMV and Public Safety says the system is slowly improving, but its taking time to align all of the equipment like phone lines and other resources essential to making the computer work. Every day, its getting better, said Drew. He says the state had no choice, but to buy a new computer. Under the old system, no third party could interact with it. It wasnt Y2K compliant. Without a change, we would not have been able to do business after the first of the year, said Drew. Meanwhile, Angle says she will reintroduce her bill in the 2001 session and is suggesting that a third party review the current system and point out whats wrong with it. The DMV Director says the system is working, its just taking time to work out the bugs and make it compatible with other systems. There are currently, forty states that farm out some of their DMV services. Thirty-five of those states say theyre satisfied with the new systems.

http://www.msnbc.com/local/KRNV/42008.asp

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), September 30, 1999

Answers

In May of 1999 the NC DMV certified emissions of my Toyo and printed a receipt that stated that my next scheduled inspection would be May 1910. Officials said in June to the media that they would fix the problem that month with "updated software". They didn't say anything about how they would fix half a year of polluted data. Wolfie.

-- wolfie (Wolfie@toyo.toy), October 01, 1999.