DMV could soon be taken out of DOT amid ongoing failures

The North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) could soon see a major revamp that involves taking it out of the Department of Transportation following years of complaints over the long wait times and ongoing dysfunction.

With no notable improvement in sight, Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Polk, is behind a push to overhaul the DMV in the latest crackdown on the infamously mismanaged state-run agency. In a recent House Oversight Committee meeting, Johnson slammed the ongoing failures and hinted at a potential legislative fix.

“We’ve brought them before House Oversight multiple times, and still, little has improved,” Johnson said. “Perhaps with a change in leadership, now is the time to explore more wholesale change and remove the layers of inefficient bureaucracy.” 

The suggestion came the day after DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin announced his plan to resign. 

Johnson told the Carolina Journal that state leaders are in the beginning stages of discussing the DMV revamp. He explained that it could potentially involve assigning the General Assembly and the governor a role in choosing several personnel to manage the DMV.

“This is not going to happen overnight,” Johnson stated in the hearing, “but we’ve got to make some drastic changes. This has been an ongoing problem for way too long.”

The main difference would be administrative functions would no longer need to be signed off by DOT. Johnson explained that the administrative change could clear the tedious chain of command, which is a factor in the frustrations of customers and legislators alike.

“When you have layers and layers of buffers to get to real answers, that is unacceptable,” he said. “We get hundreds of complaints, and when the commissioner takes responsibility, perhaps he should have the ultimate authority instead of having to run changes up the chain.”

Notably, the revenue structure would remain the same under any proposal, allowing DMV funds to continue funding DOT.

SEE ALSO: Hopkins gives update on Helene recovery, other NCDOT matters at House Oversight hearing

Amid ongoing scrutiny for customer complaints and other operational problems, the DMV  launched a kiosk pilot program last year in an effort to improve operations. It also introduced other improvement efforts like hiring more than 250 new driver’s license examiners across the state and expanding hours of operation.

The post DMV could soon be taken out of DOT amid ongoing failures first appeared on Carolina Journal.