Vermont DMV commissioner explains data-sharing, Tyler Tech role and revenue to House panel

Andrew Collier, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles, told the House Energy Digital Infrastructure Committee on April 30 that the DMV shares driver and vehicle information under the federal Driver Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) and Vermont statute and that some datasets are handled by a statutorily authorized vendor, Tyler Tech.

Collier said the three-year driver-record product commonly used by insurance companies is operated under statute through Tyler Tech. "Tyler Tech gets $4, per record, and then, it's a $17 fee. They get $4 of that when they sell it record, and then the state keeps that difference, $13 on the record side," Collier said. He told lawmakers Tyler Tech processed about 99,000 three-year driver-record calls last year and that Tyler Tech's share generated roughly $780,000; Collier said the state's total receipts tied to the larger Tyler Tech arrangement were "probably slightly over $2,000,000." Collier also reported that, in calendar year 2024, DMV-collected fees for other direct records requests totaled $74,202.

Why this matters: committee members said they wanted clarity on what datasets are shared, who receives them, how downstream resales are controlled, and what oversight the DMV exercises over third-party vendors.

Key details from Collier's briefing and committee exchanges:

- Legal framework: Collier said DMVs operate under the federal DPPA requirement to share certain driver and vehicle records with authorized users and that Vermont law implements related fee and distribution rules. He emphasized that some data flows are statutory mandates rather than discretionary sales.

- Tyler Tech role and volumes: Collier said Tyler Tech specifically handles the statutory three-year driver-record product that insurance companies commonly access. He gave the committee a usage figure of about 99,000 three-year-driver-record calls in the previous year.

- Pricing and revenue: Collier described the statutory fee structure: a $17 per-record charge for the three-year record, with $4 retained by Tyler Tech and the remainder to the state (Collier described the state share as $13). He said that Tyler Tech's receipts from the three-year product were roughly $780,000 and that the state's total receipts related to the larger Tyler Tech arrangement were likely slightly over $2 million. Separately, DMV direct fees for other ad hoc requests amounted to $74,202 in 2024.

- End users and resale: Collier said insurance companies are common end users of the three-year product; he explained that companies such as LexisNexis or identity- and background-data firms may be intermediate purchasers. Under DPPA rules and the DMV's contractual terms, downstream resales are allowed only when purchasers meet the DPPA's user/retention requirements. Collier said DMV is finalizing contract and statement-of-work updates to strengthen cyber-insurance requirements and retention limits for vendors and expects to complete that work shortly.

- Oversight and follow-up: Committee members pressed Collier on how the DMV audits or verifies downstream users' compliance with DPPA restrictions. Collier said the agency is working on updated contract language, including higher cyber-insurance limits and provisions on retention and one-year renewals; he said he would follow up with the committee on precise Tyler Tech arrangements and on whether DMV conducts downstream audits.

Ending: Collier told the committee the DMV will circulate statutory citations and policy references, and that staff would provide more detailed vendor-contract and revenue breakdowns after the briefing.