Wes Wolfe
There are a lot of talented people behind the scenes trying to make the state government work a little better — believe it or not — for Florida residents in tech roles and planning. Part of the state’s tech modernization process includes something that touches most Floridians: motor vehicle licensing.
Terrence Samuel, Director of the Office of Motorist Modernization, spoke to the House Infrastructure and Tourism Appropriations Subcommittee this week. As mentioned during the meeting, infrastructure doesn’t just include roads and bridges, it includes information technology.
“We developed these modernized systems, and of course we concentrated on the in-office applications, but also like I mentioned, we wanted to focus on giving customers other opportunities as well,” Samuel said.
“We’ve expanded some things online by allowing customers to clear certain sanctions online. You can get a sanction for failing to pay a traffic fine, or leaving the scene of an accident, or failure to complete a court-ordered school. Some of these sanctions you can now clear, online, through our customer portal, and print out your clearance letter at home.”
The portal also allows people to get notifications about their driving record. Prior to completing the first phase of this project, there were no self-service options for commercial driver’s licenses, and now that’s possible.
“Now, that’s not for hazmat endorsement — you’ve still got to come into the office for that, but however, if you submit an application for a hazmat endorsement and you wondered what’s the status, you can go on to our customer portal and find out the status of your hazmat application,” Samuel said.
Strides in modernization are also leading to other results, like keeping track of documents. Mailed documents, instead of getting lost in other mail and paperwork at home, will also be available through the portal. Clerks at state offices will be able to access this information should a person arrive without the necessary documents.
The second phase of the MyDMV portal enhancement is to include expanded services, allowing customers to obtain duplicate titles and personalized plates online, along with enabling customers to receive personalized alerts and Department notifications through the portal.
There will be new online services for businesses’ fleet management, and customers will be able to also perform decal and plate replacements online once work is complete.
Sunrise Democratic Rep. Dan Daley is already pleased with the system.
“Thank you for your presentation and for your modernization efforts, and thank you for the reminder, because my registration expires next month,” Daley said. “I was able to do it in about five minutes, up here on the dais. Logged into the portal, was able to navigate it.”
Expenditures for the second phase are expected at around $52.2 million for fiscal year 2022-23. The legislative budget request for fiscal year 2023-24 and the following year is $9.9 million each year, with a total anticipated cost of $73.2 million.
