Kevin Shweto, executive director of the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles, told the House Education and Public Works Committee the DMV has not kept staffing or system resources pace with statewide population growth and urged legislative support for a multi‑year modernization effort.

Shweto said state population growth increased the number of registrants from about 4 million to 5.3 million and that the DMV had not seen commensurate increases in personnel or operating budget during that growth. He described workforce challenges: a reported annual turnover near 33 percent (about 500 of 1,500 employees) and entry‑level salaries that had previously been as low as roughly $22,000 before a mid‑period increase; Shweto said inflation and hiring competition strained retention. He emphasized the DMV’s operational complexity—license and title transactions governed by many statutes and programs—and the training burden when turnover is high.

Technology and modernization: Shweto said the DMV operates a legacy system called Phoenix built in COBOL and that prolonged reliance on unsupported systems increases outage risk and degrades services. He said the department has requested funding to modernize and estimated that comprehensive modernization would be a large, multi‑year investment (he used an illustrative figure of roughly $100 million when describing needed security and system upgrades). He described planned operational changes including centralized issuance (scheduled for September) and eventual mobile driver’s licenses with enhanced biometrics to reduce fraud.

Real ID and operational impacts: Shweto warned that Real ID compliance has federal consequences and said roughly 60 percent of state residents had Real ID credentials; he urged residents to obtain required documentation (birth certificate, two pieces of ID and Social Security number) to avoid travel and federal‑facility access problems. He said line volumes are likely to increase as residents seek Real ID cards ahead of federal enforcement dates and that the department has outreach and planning underway.

Public safety and DUI comments: Shweto also criticized state DUI laws as creating high recidivism and described the volume of first‑time DUI arrests at an average around 25,000 annually; he urged legislative attention to highway safety law and cited interoperability concerns between licensing, law enforcement and identity systems.

Committee members asked about resources, centralized issuance, Real ID documentation and potential partnerships. Shweto offered direct contact information and said the department aims to reduce fraud and improve service but needs legislative funding and statutory clarity for several modernization elements.