COUNTY ISSUANCE OF MOTOR VEHICLE LICENSES STUDY COMMITTEE

December 3, 1997 - Eighth Meeting of 1997

MEMBERS PRESENT

MEETING IN BRIEF

Organization staffing and minutes prepared by Jan Simmons, Legal Counsel

1. Administrative Matters.
2. Discussion of Final Report Draft.
3. Future Meetings.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

1. Administrative Matters.

Call to Order. Chairperson Van Meter called the meeting to order at 10:09 a.m. A sign-in sheet was circulated, which is on file with the Legislative Service Bureau.

Approval of Minutes. Sharon Winchell moved that the minutes from the meeting on October 24, 1997, be approved, and Daron Van Helden seconded the motion. The motion passed.

Ms. Winchell then suggested that the minutes from the meeting on November 12, 1997, be amended to include the fact that Dr. Padgitt had identified "convenience" as a question topic on which the answers from the two groups showed a statistical difference. Terry Dillinger noted that he did not think that this change was necessary, because most of the DOT sites surveyed were in county courthouses, and therefore noting the difference in perception regarding "convenience" of the site was not significant.

Ms. Winchell also noted that the Committee voted to include as an appendix to the report a letter from DOT Director, Mr. Darrell Rensink, regarding certification of the Commercial Driver's License (CDL) program in the six counties.

Pat Milligan moved, and Richard Johnson seconded, that the minutes from the November 12 meeting be approved as corrected. The motion passed on a voice vote.

Nancy Richardson indicated she wished to be recorded as abstaining on both motions.

Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 11:53 a.m.

2. Discussion of Final Report Draft.

The Committee discussed a Final Report Draft distributed by mail to members. A copy of the draft is on file with the Legislative Service Bureau.

• Certification of County CDL Programs. Bob Hagey moved to attach the letter from DOT Director Rensink certifying the county CDL programs, as discussed in connection with correction of the November 12 minutes, to the Final Report as an Appendix, and to reflect the issue in the Final Report Recommendations. Mary Kay Williams seconded the motion. The motion passed on voice vote.
• Customer Satisfaction Survey Information. Mr. Milligan moved that the Final Report Draft be amended to include in the description of statistically different response findings by Dr. Padgitt, the issue of "convenience," according to the discussion of the Committee in correcting the minutes of the November 12 meeting. Mr. Van Helden seconded the motion. The motion passed on voice vote.
• Cost Analysis of Final Recommendation. Chairperson Van Meter indicated that she believed that the cost analysis of the final recommendations should be included in the text of the report, rather than as an Appendix to the report. Ms. William moved that the contents of final cost analysis, referred to in the draft of the Final Report as Appendix 7, be included at the end of the report. Mr. Johnson seconded the motion. The motion passed on short form.
• Appendices and Committee Review of Final Draft. Ms. Richardson expressed her concern that each Appendix be sufficiently summarized within the context of the Final Report at the point that each Appendix was referenced, noting however, that she had not reviewed the current draft prior to the meeting. Wayne Walter indicated that according to his review of the report, the contents of each Appendix was sufficiently summarized, and the consensus of the Committee was agreement with Mr. Walter.
• Conference Call. Jan Simmons, Legislative Service Bureau, added that additional sections would be in the final version of the Final Report, including a list of all documents presented to the Committee.
  Mr. Johnson indicated that he wanted all Committee members to have a few days to review the final draft of the Final Report, prior to a conference call for Committee members to discuss the draft. The consensus of the Committee was agreement with Mr. Johnson's suggestion for final approval of the Committee report.
• Handicapped Permit Reimbursement. Don Breniman indicated his desire for the Final Report and Cost Analysis to expressly address the issue of reimbursement for handicapped permit issuance by counties. Warren Jenkins stated that he believed that the final recommendations did not authorize state reimbursement for issuance of handicapped permits by counties, and that including such reimbursement would add approximately $40,000 to the final cost analysis of the final recommendations. Furthermore, he noted that the Polaroid digital imaging equipment was not used in issuing handicapped permits, and that such issuance did not take a great deal of time.
  After some discussion of the issue by the Committee, Ms. Winchell moved that the recommendations expressly exclude reimbursement for handicapped permits, and that reimbursements be expressly limited to issuance of licenses and nonoperator identification. The motion was seconded by Mr. Milligan. The motion passed on a voice vote.
• Cost Subcommittee Activity. Mr. Breniman then moved that the discussion of the Cost Subcommittee activity in the draft of the Final Report be amended to switch the order of the second and third sentences and to amend the second sentence to read as follows: "The Subcommittee analyzed actual DOT financial figures to identify comparable calculations that would best allow a direct comparison of issuance costs with the county treasurer's time study results." Mr. Van Helden seconded the motion, and the motion passed on a voice vote.
• Impact of Photo-licensing Agreement on Cost Analysis. Mr. Dillinger expressed his desire to have a more specific notation of the potential cost impact of the photo-licensing agreement on the final recommendations. After some discussion by the Committee, Mr. Breniman moved that the language in the preliminary cost analysis (Paragraph C of the assumptions) regarding cost sensitivity related to the photo-licensing agreement be included in the cost analysis of the final recommendation, and that this issue be referred to in a note at the bottom of the calculation page of the cost analysis of the final recommendation, with a specific reference to the text. Ms. Smalley seconded the motion. The motion passed on a voice vote.
• Reimbursement Information. Mr. Breniman remarked that the presentation of the calculations in the final cost analysis reflected some "new" items, or labels, which had not been in previous drafts. Dave Reynolds, Legislative Fiscal Bureau, indicated that the current draft was designed for ease of reference, but that the final presentation format was still being adjusted. Mr. Reynolds showed the Committee a calculation format which placed on a separate page all amounts related to reimbursement of the counties by the state for license issuance. Mr. Johnson moved that the calculations in the final report with respect to reimbursement be placed on a separate page. Mr. Walter seconded the motion. The motion was approved by the Committee on a voice vote.
• Additional Training Costs. Mr. Breniman then indicated that he and Mr. Reynolds had discussed the fact that certain training costs had been discussed by the Cost Subcommittee, but had been inadvertently omitted from the cost analysis submitted by the Subcommittee. Mr. Reynolds explained that the training costs at issue relate to the rental of certain facilities and related transportation costs, and amount to approximately $13,000. Mr. Breniman moved, and Mr. Milligan seconded, that those costs be reflected in the final cost analysis. The motion passed on a voice vote. Mr. Reynolds added that Dr. Edelman had agreed with that position in a phone call Mr. Reynolds had had with him prior to the meeting.
• Variable Costs if Less Than 42 Counties Opt-in. Mr. Dillinger asked if the cost analysis addressed the issue that the projected cost savings could vary if less than 42 counties actually opted to issue licenses. The Committee discussed the issue of whether the report adequately addressed that possibility, and after some discussion, agreed that the cost analysis of the final recommendations should include an introductory caveat that the cost analysis could change if less than 42 counties opted-in. The issue was moved, seconded, and passed on a voice vote.
• County Time Study Appendix. Mr. Jenkins expressed his desire to replace the proposed Appendix detailing the time study results with a summary sheet analyzing the time study results, as developed by the Cost Subcommittee. He indicated that he believed that the summary sheet would provide more meaningful data. Ms. Williams moved, and Mr. Johnson seconded, that the summary sheet be substituted as the Appendix relating to the time study. The motion passed on a short form vote.
• Format for Minority Reports. After some discussion by the Committee regarding the procedure for approval of the final draft of the Report, Mr. Van Helden moved, and Mr. Johnson seconded, that any Minority Report be attached to the Final Report as a separate Appendix, so that inclusion of minority reports would not slow the approval of the Final Report. The motion passed on a voice vote.

3. Future Meetings.

The revised draft of the Final Report will be sent to Committee members as soon as possible, and Committee members should submit any proposed corrections or changes in writing to the Legislative Service Bureau no later than December 18. Minority Reports are due no later than December 15, but were requested to be submitted by December 12, if possible.

The Committee will meet via conference call at 9:00 a.m. on December 23, 1997. The call will be initiated by the Legislative Service Bureau in Room 116 of the Capitol. The public is invited to attend.

OTHER INFORMATION FOR THIS COMMITTEE:

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