Missouri House endorses changes to fee office contracts

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri House endorsed legislation Tuesday that gives charities, school districts, local governments and veterans organizations first crack at contracts to run driver's license offices.

Missouri has 183 local fee offices where residents renew driver's licenses and motor vehicle registrations. The offices add a fee to each transaction, which can make them profitable, particularly in high-traffic urban and suburban areas.

The House bill, which needs another vote before moving to the Senate, would let individuals and for-profit organizations get fee office contracts only if there were no other bidders. The Department of Revenue would also have to take steps to limit waiting times at the offices to 30 minutes at most.

Governors historically have awarded the contracts to political allies.

But Gov. Jay Nixon announced after the November election he would competitively bid all of Missouri's fee offices.

Nixon's administration judges applicants based on efficiency, customer service, financial stability and past performance. It awards extra points for minority- and women-owned businesses, those willing to return to the state part of the processing fee and if the applicant is a not-for-profit or civic group.

Nixon released a statement after Tuesday's House vote praising the legislation as a needed step toward ending political patronage.

Controversy of the traditional method of awarding the contracts has grown in recent years. Lawmakers, particularly Democrats but also some Republicans, had criticized how former governor Matt Blunt's administration initially handled the awarding of fee offices.

Blunt, a Republican, initially followed the traditional model, but starting in 2006, his administration began using competitive bids to fill openings.

In 2006, the FBI interviewed former fee office agents, focusing on some relatively new arrangements in which the offices were awarded to contractors who then were approached by a third party to manage them.

The investigation was closed without charges, and the federal prosecutor's office said Blunt never was a target nor implicated in any wrongdoing.

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Fee offices is HB381

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov

Revenue Department: http://www.dor.mo.gov