Legal Research

An item has slipped under the radar which could greatly affect access of motor vehicle records from Washington DC. On November 16th, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Vol.54 - NO.46 of the District of Columbia Register was published that, among other items, raises the annual fee of an entity purchasing electronic driving records from $100 per year to $25,000 per year. Also proposed is an increase in the annual fee for periodic receipt of electronic files containing vehicle registration information from $1,200 a year to $36,000 per year. The way the current law reads - the proposed rule changes read - is  there is no distinction on the type of entity that is receiving the driving records electronically. The fee applies equally to insurance companies, trucking companies, MVR vendors, etc., as long as that entity is the account obtaining records directly.

The public has 30 days to comment on the proposed new rules, starting November 16th.

The language in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking states that a primary reason for this increase is that the Director wants to raise funds to safeguard the personal records of DC drivers because of the recent data security breach in California, and legal costs with data collection companies. However, instead of raising the fees to these same data collection companies and data brokers that apply to purchase the data in bulk, the Director wants to raise the fees for a distinctly different group - a group that has nothing to do with the data security breach or with data collection. Interestingly, the entities affected hold written permission of drivers to access the drivers' data so drivers can obtain a job or get insurance, and they already have the very personal information on file that the Director is trying to protect. There is a huge, distinctive difference between these two completely different types of requesters.

One major, evolutionary reason that online service is provided by state jurisdictions to the insurance industry is so that DMV personnel do not have to provide records on a manual basis - meaning by mail and over the counter. Common practice for states charging an annual fee for electronic driving record access is between $75 and $95.  Raising the DC fee from $100 to $25,000 will most likely lead to an increase of requests for records processed manually by DC. The proposed new rules do not, I believe, contain provisions for the Director to add additional employees to handle increased requests by mail or in person.

To view the current rules as they are written, visit http://www.dmv.dc.gov/info/title-18/chap08_pdf.shtm

The person to contact to obtain a copy of the proposed rulemaking is the same person to whom to submit comments. Contact Mr. Glenn Durbin, Assistant Attorney General, DC Department of Motor Vehicles, 95 M Street, SW, Ste 300, Washington DC, 20024. The telephone number is 202-729-7012, fax is 202-729-7152, email is glenn.durbin@dc.gov

When faced with a budget crunch, there have been workable solutions that other jurisdictions have put into place. I sincerely hope some additional research is performed and common sense prevails.