Written by Tennessee State Representative Curtis Johnson
Speaker Pro Tempore
Nashville, TN – Legislation designed to save money and cut down on the time spent renewing driver licenses moved forward this week in the House of Representatives.
As many Tennesseans note, despite technologies that allow licenses to be renewed online or in mobile kiosks, driver license centers across the state are often overcrowded.
House Bill 198 seeks to help solve this problem by moving the driver license renewal period from five to eight years. As the law stands now, Tennessee has among the shortest periods of time that a license is valid when compared to other states. Most states already have either a seven or an eight year license.
Because Tennesseans will be issued cards less frequently over the course of their lifetimes, the state of Tennessee also will not have to produce as many each year. The cost to produce a plastic driver license is about $2.23. The estimated savings for the state in cards that it will not produce is over $1.7 million per year after the longer driver license period is fully implemented.
Part of this bill also includes a reduction in the price paid for the privilege of holding a driver license. Class D, M, and Photo ID license fees would be reduced by around 10% each if the bill passes. While that difference in cost might be negligible to individual drivers who only save a couple of dollars every 8 years, collectively, that keeps millions of dollars from being spent by the Department of Safety on plastic and the process of making additional licenses.
House Bill 198 is scheduled to be heard in the House Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee next Wednesday. April 1st.
