Bill Caption

Relating to agreements between the Department of Public Safety and counties for the provision of renewal and duplicate driver's license and other identification certificate services; authorizing a fee.

Fiscal Notes

Any costs associated with implementing the bill would depend on the number of counties entering into an agreement with DPS to permit county employees to provide services at a county office relating to the issuance of renewal and duplicate driver's licenses,election identification certificates and personal identification certificates. The upper limit of cost would entail all 254 Texas counties entering into an agreement with DPS, resulting in a cost of $5,300,472 in fiscal year 2016 and $2,261,616 in each following fiscal year. The costs would decrease to the degree fewer counties opt to enter into an agreement with DPS. 

Bill Analysis

The legislation would amend the Transportation Code to allow the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to grant counties the ability to provide services at a DPS county office such as issuance of license renewals and duplicate driver's licenses, as well as election identification and personal identifications. 

Vote Recommendation Notes

5/20/15 update:

No amendments or modifications have been made to the bill since we reported on it.

First chamber recommendation:

We support this bill for limiting government. Currently, only eight counties have the DPS offices to renew and issue drivers licenses and provide these services under a pilot program. As a result of this program, it has been shown to improve customer wait times and efficiency at DPS locations. We support this legislation by allowing local governments to have the ability to enter into an agreement with DPS to provide more efficient service providing relating to licenses and forms of identification.