Department of Motor Vehicles

The enacted budget makes the following changes to the Executive Budget.

• Increases the Executive Budget by $581,000, the Department’s SFY 2010-11 All Funds appropriation is a $1.24 million decrease from its SFY 2009-10 enacted budget All Funds appropriation.

·    Rejects Executive’s proposal for increasing accident report threshold and eliminates the motorist reporting requirement.  This is reflected in the $1.24 million decrease in the Compulsory Insurance SRO and is for personal services and fringe benefits. 

The Senate makes no changes to the Executive budget outlined below (analysis as of March 22, 2010).

The Executive Budget recommends (analysis as of January 29, 2010):

A SFY 2010-11 workforce of 2,809.  This is a decrease 3 FTEs from the adjusted FTE level for FY 2009-10 and a decrease of approximately 64 FTEs from the Enacted 2009-10 level of 2,876 (The Senate Blue Book and the Executive Budget assert that the decrease is approximately 93 FTES from the enacted 2009-10 fill level).  The following chart identifies adjustments in the current fiscal year’s FTEs along with the recommended differences in SFY 2010-11 FTEs by program:

• The total appropriation for Personal Service is decreased by $5.53 million, or, (-3.7%).  This reflects the annualized value of a workforce reduction plan and overall State operations reductions, offset by increases due to collective bargaining agreements and fringe benefit rates.

• The total appropriation for Contractual Services is increased by $137,000, or, .2%.

• The All Funds State Operations appropriation is decreased by $1.82 million or -1.5%.  However, 61% of the DMV budget is supported by $217.8 million in Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund (DHBTF) capital projects funds, a reduction of $2.59 million or 1.2%.

·         Proposes the elimination of Redundant Quality Control Checks for Licenses & Vanity Plates: This proposal would eliminate quality control checks of driver licenses and vanity license plates that are deemed to be redundant. Currently, the Department conducts secondary, spot-check inspections of driver licenses and vanity plates to ensure that there are no mistakes, inaccuracies, or flaws incorporated into these items prior to issuance to State drivers. Under the new policy, the Department would rely upon the quality control check conducted by the vendor contracted to manufacture driver licenses and eliminate the secondary check for quality control carried out by the Department. In the case of vanity license plates, the Department would rely upon the computer system that generates specialized vanity plates to ensure quality and eliminate the secondary check conducted by DMV employees prior to issuance. This initiative is anticipated to generate $283,000 in cost savings for the Department in SFY 2010-11 and each year thereafter.  According to the Senate Blue Book, there is a reduction of six FTE positions associated with this proposal.

• The Department employed an estimated 43 employees under consultant contracts in SFY 2009-10 at a cost of $4.38 million.   The Executive budget anticipates no change to these numbers.  It is important to note that the consultant employees are not reported on an FTE basis so it is difficult to draw conclusions as to cost per employee.

• The following programs had significant changes in their personal services appropriations:

o   Compulsory Insurance Program – Compulsory Insurance Acct. SRO decrease of $704,000, or -7.3%.

o   DHBTF – decrease of $3.98 million, or -3.9%.

• The following programs had significant changes in their contractual services appropriations:

o   Clean Air Program – decrease of $305,000 or -11.1%.

o   Compulsory Insurance Program – Compulsory Insurance Acct. SRO - decrease of $1.85 million or -56.5%.

o   Traffic Safety – Motorcycle Safety Acct SRO –decrease of $694,000 or -35.6%; Internet Point Insurance Reduction Acct SRO – decrease of $590,000, or -69%.

o   DHBTF – increase of $2.49 million or 4.1%.

• Proposes the following Article VII legislation:

o   Part J – Increase the Law Enforcement Motor Vehicle Accident Report threshold from $1,000 to $3,000 and eliminate the requirement that motorists also file accident reports.   Enactment of this bill is necessary to implement the 2010-11 Executive Budget to generate $581,000 in annual savings for SFY 2010-11 and thereafter.   According to the Senate Blue Book, some of these anticipated savings are associated with a reduction of 12 FTE positions in the size of DMV’s workforce.  According to the Assembly Yellow Book, only 9 FTE positions are associated with this bill.

o   Part K – Allow the Department of Motor Vehicles to take advantage of bulk mailing rates by using the most up-to-date addressees provided by the United States Postal Service.   Enactment of this bill is necessary to implement the 2010-11 Executive Budget to generate $250,000 in annual savings for 2010-11 and thereafter.