Committee adopts amendment to require 30‑day email reminders for expiring driver’s licenses

The House Transportation Committee on June 17 adopted an amendment to House Bill 258 that would require the registrar of motor vehicles to send an email notification, when an email address is available, at least 30 days before a driver’s license expires, in addition to the bill’s existing mail notice.

Vice Chair Daniels, who moved the amendment (Amendment 1360708), explained that the change would allow the state to notify license holders earlier by email and reduce the number of physical mail pieces sent: "This amendment requires the registrar of motor vehicles to send a notification by email, if an email address is available, to each person whose driver's license is scheduled to expire not less than 30 days prior to the date of expiration." The chair said the amendment had been discussed and approved by both bill sponsors.

Representative Rogers questioned the logistics of relying on email and whether recipients would need to confirm receipt to avoid subsequent mailed notices. "Once they get the email, there's some type of action they're gonna have to perform ... so that we know that it's them, because emails change," Rogers said. Daniels and other committee members replied that creating two‑way confirmation that writes back to the DMV database would substantially increase IT complexity and costs, and that renewal interactions would also give customers an opportunity to update their email addresses.

Without objection, the committee made the amendment part of the bill; the chair recorded that the bill, as amended, now completed its second hearing. Committee members did not adopt additional technical requirements for email verification on the record and noted the cost and operational tradeoffs involved.

Next steps: House Bill 258 will proceed as the amended version; the committee recorded the second hearing on the amended bill and took no further formal action during the June 17 meeting.