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  • State Government
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California Lawmakers Slam DMV Over Soaring Wait Times

  •  Ben Adler 
Tuesday, August 7, 2018 | Sacramento, CA
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Richard Vogel / AP Photo

People line up at the California Department of Motor Vehicles prior to opening in the Van Nuys section of Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018.

Richard Vogel / AP Photo

The California Department of Motor Vehicles is under fire for massive wait times at field offices that have approached eight hours in recent months.

Lawmakers in both parties ripped into DMV Director Jean Shiamoto at an Assembly hearing Tuesday.

“I am a bit resistant to the idea that the solution here is just throw more money at the DMV. We have done that, over and over again,” said Asm. Jim Patterson (R-Fresno), ripping into what he called the agency’s outdated technology and poor management.

“At some point, the buck has to stop somewhere,” added Asm. Jim Cooper (D-Elk Grove). “Someone has to be held accountable. This is not acceptable.”

Shiamoto apologized to customers and blamed the delays on three new projects: the federal “Real ID” program, a queueing system and an electronic driver’s license application.

“This is the first time in years that the department has implemented this number of customer-facing initiatives at the same time,” she said. “The implementations did overlap creating new and additional workload for staff and new and additional processes for customers.”

Shiamoto said the DMV is testing new ideas to reduce wait times — from text notifications to self check-in kiosks — and hiring more staff for extended weekday and Saturday hours.

“I am confident that the major actions taken this past week and those to be implemented in the coming weeks and the months will produce significant reductions in customer wait times,” she said.

Shiamoto asked lawmakers for an additional $26 million. That’s on top of state funding increases totaling more than $60 million over the last year.

Lawmakers will open another front against the DMV on Wednesday as they debate whether to order an audit.

What we're hearing from you:

We waited 6.5 hours for my kid to take a permit test. Couldn't get an appointment less than 6 weeks out.

— ❤️🧡💛Catblossom💚💙💜 (@catblossoms) August 7, 2018

Four hours. I need to register a new to me vehicle. i need to take a full day off work and schedule this out weeks ahead. Hoefully i will have all the Docs required and several hundred dollars ready.....

— Bjosephd (@BJosephD207) August 7, 2018

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    California DMV Director Says Agency Didn't Make A Mistake Responding To Long Wait Times

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    DMV Director Jean Shiomoto said says her agency shouldn’t be faulted for long wait times. The department has come under fire for wait times approaching eight hours at some offices.
  • Richard Vogel / AP Photo

    California Lawmakers Reject Proposal To Audit The DMV Despite Complaints About Long Waits

    Wednesday, August 8, 2018
    Visits to the DMV can take as much as six hours, as the agency has struggled to hand out new federally required driver’s licenses and IDs.

Ben Adler

Director of Programming and Audience Development

Director of Programming and Audience Development Ben Adler first became a public radio listener in the car on his way to preschool — though not necessarily by choice.  Read Full Bio 

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