Senate votes to raise driver’s license fees

The Iowa Senate has voted to raise driver’s license fees by five dollars to raise money for an upgrade of the D-O-T’s license record system. Terry Dillinger, the D-O-T’s director of driver services, says the part of the system that keeps track of speeding tickets, license suspensions and other citations was written in the 1970s. Dillinger says the other part is what you see when you go to get your license renewed. It processes your application and spits out your new license on site. That part of the system was last upgraded in 1984. Dillinger says the D-O-T’s computer experts spend all their time just trying to keep the system up and running, which means they can’t install enhancements that’d make it work better and they can’t keep up with the adjustments that’re required by always-changing state and federal law. Dillinger says with the upgrade that’s planned, Iowans may be able to renew their driver’s license over the Internet starting in 2006. Dillinger says the procedures for renewing via the Internet will probably be very similar to the rules used for renewal through the mail. That was discontinued a couple of years ago because few Iowans chose that option, which was available to people with a clean driving record who were under the age of 65 and had no medical restrictions. The proposed driver’s license fee increase would raise 14-million dollars over five years, and must be approved by the Iowa House and the Governor before it becomes law.