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Friday, September 30, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - BMV publishes draft ID requirements and schedules hearing

The October 1, 2005 Indiana Register contains the proposed new Bureau of Motor Vehicles rules. Access them here. The Digest:

Adds 140 IAC 7-4 to establish standards for operator’s licenses under IC 9-24-9 and identification cards for nondrivers under IC 9-24-16.
This 9/10/05 ILB entry gives background, including:
Next the BMV has to schedule and conduct a public hearing(s) on the draft rule. Public notice of the hearing has to be published in a newspaper of general circulation in Marion County. All this is covered under IC 4-22-2, sections 23, 24, and 26. Section 27 provides that the comments from the hearing(s) must be considered. After complying with the preceding (and other related) requirements, the agency may adopt the rule. See section 29. Thereafter the proposal has to undergo review and approval by the attorney general, the governor, and be filed with the secretary of state. The rule takes effect 30 days thereafter.
The draft requirements look to be the same as those the Court of Appeals declared to be void, not because of their content, but because they were adopted without following the requirements of the rulemaking statutes, including a public hearing.

A single public hearing has been scheduled, for Monday, October 24 at 9:00 a.m., in the IGCS Auditorium. Hopefully, 78-years-old Theresa Clemente, featured in this 9/25/05 Frank Gray column in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, will be able to attend to testify on how the current "unofficial" rules (which presumably do not differ from the published "draft rules") operate in the real world. Ms. Clemente, according to the column, was turned away three times from a Fort Wayne BMV office in effort to obtain a photo ID, a requirement for voting in Indiana as a result of 2005 legislation. Some quotes from the story:

On her first visit last July, Clemente brought her Social Security card, voter registration card, property tax bill, utility bill and credit card to the BMV at Southgate. But she was turned away. She needed a birth certificate.

So Clemente went home, got her copy of her birth certificate, and went back.

No, she was told, she needed a certified copy of her birth certificate.

Oh.

So Clemente contacted officials in Boston and after paying $28 got a certified copy of her birth certificate and went back to the BMV, her third trip.

It all went smoothly. She had everything she needed, it seemed. All the papers were filled out and she was sent to the end of the room to get her picture taken.

Then, more bad news. We can’t give you an ID. It says on the paperwork that your name is Grady, but you say it’s Clemente.

Well, I’m married, she said. My name has been Clemente for 53 years now.

For some reason, the staff at the BMV had filled out the paperwork for her ID using the name on her birth certificate, not the name on her Social Security card or credit card or utility bill or property tax bill or voter registration card.

One would think the problem could have been quickly remedied. People might realize that Clemente, like pretty much everyone, wasn’t married when she was born and the BMV would go back and correct the paperwork.

Instead, officials said she needed to produce a marriage certificate.

Clemente was prepared. She had that on hand.

No, she was told. We need a certified copy of your marriage certificate.

Clemente was sent away again.

At this point, Clemente and her husband, who was with her, got a little testy. This is their third trip, and every time they appear at the license branch, she’s told she needs something different. Now this.

Clemente said she asked to speak to a supervisor, and was approached by someone who gave her a yellow piece of paper explaining what she needed to get an ID. It was the first time she had been offered the sheet.

The contents of that "sheet" are presumably what is incorporated in the new draft rule. Unfortunately, according to the article, Ms. Clemente already had submitted everything required on the yellow sheet, but had still been turned away. Perhaps once the BMV has an officially promulgated list of requirements, it will abide by it.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 30, 2005 07:26 AM
Posted to Indiana Government