Committee adopts amendment to DMV cleanup bill, advances expedited-fee measure for mailed IDs

At a meeting of the House Education and Public Works Committee, members adopted an amendment to House Bill 3856, a Department of Motor Vehicles cleanup bill, that removes a statutory requirement for random retesting of applicants certified by licensed driving schools. The committee also gave a favorable report to Bill 4011, which creates a temporary driver’s certificate for use while the official hard card is centrally produced and permits an expedited $90 fee for overnight mailing of licenses and ID cards.

The amendment to HB 3856 struck language in Section 56-1-15(c) that required the DMV to randomly retest applicants who had passed driving school-administered examinations to ensure instructors were properly certifying students. Representative Tippel, who introduced the amendment, said the current practice imposes “a significant amount of undue burden of time and money on our constituents,” describing a constituent who passed, was randomly selected for a retest, and was given an appointment three weeks later that delayed a job start. After debate the amendment was adopted by voice vote; members recorded in favor included Representative…