Californians should prepare to keep their driver’s license cards for the foreseeable future.
Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed a bill that would’ve required the DMV to study the feasibility of issuing a “digital” driver’s license stored in a smartphone.
“While the idea of a digital license sounds innovative, it poses numerous technical difficulties. Given the many new responsibilities the Department of Motor Vehicles is already dealing with, I don’t believe this bill us advisable,” Brown wrote in a veto message of AB 221 from Assemblymember Matt Dababneh, D-Encino.
Cost might have been an obstacle too. The Senate Appropriations estimated it would cost millions of dollars to develop and implement a digital driver’s license.
A few states, such as Arizona, Delaware and New Jersey, are considering the option of offering a digital-only driver’s license. Iowa appears to be furthest along, last month having started a 90-day technical pilot of a “mobile driver’s license” for about 100 employees at the Iowa Department of Transportation.
The California DMV already has several tech projects in flight, such as a new system that manages wait times for customer appointments at local field offices, and moving more locations to the department’s enterprise content management system.
DMV also has been putting significant resources toward complying with a new law this year that allowed any eligible California resident, regardless of their immigration status, to apply for a driver’s license. Approximately 500,000 licenses have been issued under the new initiative since the beginning of 2015.
