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Editorial: Don't tinker with drivers' licenses

 
Published Sept. 1, 2015

In an era where virtually anything from airline tickets to library cards to books can be delivered instantly, the state's highway safety department might turn back the clock. The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles is considering centralizing the issuance of drivers' licenses and taking the job away from county tax collectors. Delivery time for a new license now at the tax collectors' offices: while you wait. Delivery time under a centralized system: up to two weeks by mail.

No wonder so many people complain government doesn't work.

As Steve Bousquet of the Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau reported Tuesday, the state has been quietly exploring centralizing the drivers' license operation in a way that could only result in delay and inconvenience for Floridians. There's nothing quiet about the debate now. Consumer-friendly county tax collectors such as Pasco's Mike Fasano and Hillsborough's Doug Belden are opposed, with Belden citing concerns about security and reducing the level of customer service. And at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam sounded skeptical. Somebody in Tallahassee should hit the brakes on this before it gains any more traction.

It's already frustrating enough to renew drivers' licenses, although some renewals can be done online. But the first Florida license or the first renewal under a federal law aimed at fighting identity theft and stopping illegal immigrants from getting state-issued ID cards requires a visit and more paperwork. Adding days of delays waiting for a new license to arrive by mail would only add to the aggravation. The slip of paper that would be a temporary license until the real one arrived would have no photo, and residents who need photo identification at airports or elsewhere would be out of luck.

So far, the arguments for making the change and adding more needless delay to a basic government function are not compelling. Roughly 35 states do issue drivers' licenses from a centralized operation, but that does not mean it is the best practice in the nation's third-largest state. Advocates also argue a central system would make it easier to add increased security features to drivers' licenses, but there is no reason that cannot be done effectively through the current system. Just four years ago, the highway safety department issued a report that called the existing system safe, efficient and cost-effective. What changed — besides the head of the agency?

Tax collectors are often politically well-connected in their counties, and their offices have more direct contact with more residents than most any other public office. They can be as self-motivated as any other politicians in protecting their turf, but the best ones recognize the importance of customer service. Just three years ago, the tax collectors helped kill another power play by the highway safety department to hire a private vendor to distribute millions of new license plates.

The sudden interest in centralizing the issuance of drivers' licenses is another bad idea, with one positive difference. The former state highway safety chief, Julie Jones (now the secretary of the Department of Corrections), tried to jam the license plate deal down everyone's throat and remains unhappy with tax collectors such as Belden for stopping her. At least Terry Rhodes, the current chief, has learned from that experience and says she won't change the drivers' license situation without the support of the tax collectors.

If her pledge is sincere, then this latest example of state bureaucracy being out of synch with the real world ought to die a quick death.