NCDMV asks lawmakers to extend license, inspection deadlines during COVID-19 outbreak
The coronavirus outbreak has changed almost every aspect of life in North Carolina, but the deadlines for renewing driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations and getting car and truck inspections are not among them.
Now the state Division of Motor Vehicles has asked legislators to let it extend those deadlines during emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The DMV has been swamped with complaints from people who can’t understand why, when the governor has ordered everyone to stay home, they must still get their car inspected or registration renewed.
“We’ve seen these requests before during natural disasters, but that was a short-term need,” Transportation Secretary Eric Boyette told a legislative committee on a conference call Tuesday. “The challenges we’re facing now is these renewals of various privileges and requirements are no longer lasting that short time frame.
Boyette asked lawmakers to give the DMV commissioner power to “extend those expiration dates and waive our fees and fines for a variety of licenses and requirements during any declared natural disaster.”
President Donald Trump issued a disaster declaration for North Carolina due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 25.
The DMV has cut back operations at its driver’s license offices to prevent crowding that could help spread the coronavirus. The agency closed 61 of its smaller offices and is taking customers at the remaining 57 offices by appointment only. It has also suspended all road tests, except for commercial driver’s licenses.
But the deadlines for renewing licenses and registrations and getting safety and emissions inspections are set by law, and Boyette said they can’t be waived without legislative approval. The General Assembly is not scheduled to go into session until April 28.
Many residents wonder why Gov. Roy Cooper doesn’t order extensions to DMV requirements and lift the threat of fines for not complying. At a press conference Wednesday, Cooper said he’d like to but doesn’t feel he can under state law.
“We’re working on waiving as many fines and penalties as we can through executive order,” Cooper said. “When the General Assembly comes back, we’ve already talked to them about delaying in statute these things we can’t change through executive order. We want to discourage people from going out and having these exchanges for things that could be delayed a few months.”
Labor shortage at DMV
Boyette said the DMV is facing other challenges, including a 40% rate of absenteeism because of the pandemic. Spokesman Steve Abbott said workers are staying home because of health concerns or because they have kids or other family members to care for. He said NCDOT has sent other workers to help the agency process paperwork arriving by mail.
Boyette said the absenteeism has slowed DMV’s back-office operations.
“We ask that residents and our industry partners be as patient as they can while we are experiencing longer-than-normal turnaround times,” he said.
DMV fears that when the COVID-19 outbreak subsides and stay-at-home orders are lifted it will be overrun with pent-up demand for licenses, registrations and road tests.
To help, Boyette asked legislators to delay the required move of DMV headquarters from Raleigh to Rocky Mount. A bill passed in 2018 set a deadline of Oct. 1, 2020, for DMV to vacate its complex on New Bern Avenue, and the agency had planned to move to rented offices in Rocky Mount starting this summer. Boyette asked the legislators to let DMV begin the move on Oct. 1 instead.
He also told lawmakers the agency would want to hire more staff so it can let its busiest offices open weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., instead of the usual 5 p.m.
Boyette also told legislators about the sudden drop in revenue to NCDOT, primarily from lower income from gas taxes, car sales taxes and DMV fees. He said the department expects to receive at least $200 million less in revenue by July 1 and is still considering its options for where to cut spending.
They include cutting spending on consultants and materials and suspending the start of new construction projects that aren’t financed by bonds.
“I can tell you the North Carolina Department of Transportation has never faced such financial circumstances,” he said. “And these measure are going to be painful.”
This story was originally published April 7, 2020 at 5:57 PM.
