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Senate advances bill adding a privacy check box to motor vehicle registration
Summary
Senate Bill 107 would add a check box on motor vehicle registration forms allowing individuals to mark their records as "protected," limiting commercial disclosure and addressing privacy and nuisance concerns raised on the floor.
The Senate advanced Senate Bill 107 after a floor presentation describing its intent to protect motorists’ personal information held by the Motor Vehicle Division. Senator Wynne Richards said the bill requires the Motor Vehicle Division to include a check box on the registration card so individuals can request that their records be classified as protected and not disclosed in name-and-address lists for marketing.
Richards explained the current mechanism requires a mailed form and manual processing; SB 107 would make protection easier by allowing registrants to indicate protection at the time of registration. She said the change responds to privacy concerns, nuisance marketing mailings, and potential security risks from lists of high-value vehicles: "Now if they're not protected, then the information ... anybody that wants to pay $2 ... they received the model and make of your car and also your name and address." The bill includes exceptions allowing disclosure for bona fide security interests, product recalls, advisory notices or statistical reports.
Senators asked whether the change would impede legitimate product-recall services; Richards noted the bill explicitly allows disclosure for safety and recall purposes. Floor questions also raised procedural clarity about the language for competency-based testing in other bills; however, no similar ambiguity was raised for SB 107. The Senate passed the bill and placed it on the third-reading calendar.
