State poised to make millions more selling drivers license data
A key part of the state budget deal means Oklahoma could bring in another $18 million a year from selling motor vehicle records to insurance companies and employment verification firms that include the personal information of all licensed drivers.
We wrote about those sales back in April; the Tulsa World had an update last weekend.
From April’s story:
The state of Oklahoma makes tens of millions of dollars selling personal information about people that some lawmakers and labor organizations want kept secret for government employees, The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World have learned.
At least $65 million has been made in the past five years from the sale of millions of motor vehicle records that include birth dates and other personal information of all state drivers, Department of Public Safety records show.
A private company has collected about $15 million conducting most of those transactions on behalf of the state, records show.
Here’s the relevant graphic from that story:
The sale of motor vehicle records is allowed under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. Information sold includes name, birth date, driver’s license number and recent driving violations.
Now, as part of the budget agreement, Senate Bill 1556 would more than double the price of each motor vehicle record to $25, up from $10. The bill is by Sen. Mike Johnson, R-Kingfisher, and Rep. Ken Miller, R-Edmond.
According to a fiscal analysis prepared by legislative staff, this increase could bring in an extra $12 million to the state’s General Revenue Fund, with an additional $6 million earmarked for the state Department of Public Safety revolving fund.
That means the state revenue from those data sales could go from an average of $13 million a year to more than $30 million a year under the increased fees.
–Paul
Oklahoma could bring in another $18 million a year from selling motor vehicle records to insurance companies and employment verifcation firms.
We wrote about those sales back in April; the Tulsa World had an update last weekend.
From April’s story:
The state of Oklahoma makes tens of millions of dollars selling personal information about people that some lawmakers and labor organizations want kept secret for government employees, The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World have learned.
At least $65 million has been made in the past five years from the sale of millions of motor vehicle records that include birth dates and other personal information of all state drivers, Department of Public Safety records show.
A private company has collected about $15 million conducting most of those transactions on behalf of the state, records show.
Here’s the relevant graphic:
The sale of motor vehicle records is allowed under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act. Information sold includes name, birth date, drivers license number and recent driving violations.
Now, as part of the budget agreement, Senate Bill 1516 would more than double the price of each motor vehicle record to $25, up from $10.
According to a fiscal analysis prepared by legislative staff, this increase could bring in an extra $12 million to the state’s General Revenue Fund, with an additional $6 million earmarked for the state Department of Public Safety revolving fund.
The extra revenue proposal comes as bills closing off the birth dates of public employees continue to stay alive in the last two days of session.
Late last night, Rep. Randy Terrill, Moore, rejected changes to his own omnibus Department of Corrections bill, HB 3379. He sent it back to committee to take out language that would have added public employee birth dates and employee identification numbers to the list of exemptions under the Open Records Act. However, an earlier standalone bill with similar language, HB 3382, remains on the House calendar and could come up for a vote at any time.
–Paul
Written by Paul Monies
Follow @pmonies
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Comments
Someone needs to stop this it is not right telling all about our personal info that has been so hard to keep out of illegals hands but this money hungry bunch just needs to bite the bullet and quit now..
And we wonder why it is so easy for people to steal our identity!? Why does the government make it so easy for people to do this, they may make a lot of money from it but it hurts the consumer.
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And just who does Sen. Johnson think that this will ultimately fall upon!? Maybe the tax payers that pay for the privilage to hold a driver’s license?!?