Kansas House of Representatives
Volume 2012, Issue 19: July 4, 2012
In This Issue
- Your License Plates
- New DMV Laws Effective 1 July 2012
- Child Protection Laws
- Keep in Touch
Your License Plate Renewals
The Department of Revenue's Secretary Nick Jordan has reported that
June was a month of both progress and challenge at the Department of
Motor Vehicles across the State. The DOR is working to bring its new
computer system conversion to a successful conclusion. The prior system
was implemented 25 years ago, so county clerks and the DOR came to the
legislature in 2008 to authorize a replacement system and implement a $4
fee to pay for it.
The progress: Sec Jordan reports that the new system handled 11.5
percent more renewals, titles, and registrations in June 2012, than were
handled in the old system in June 2011. Statewide in June 2012, renewal
transactions were up 22,719 and title and registration transactions were
up 7,893 over June 2011. Despite computer glitches and learning pains,
especially in the larger counties, registration renewals were up 5.8
percent in Johnson County, 16 percent in Sedgwick County, and 28.4
percent in Shawnee County. The Secretary says that this shows there is
progress in eliminating the backlog created by the planned one-week
county treasurers' office closures in May to convert 6.8 million
records to the new system.
The challenge: Currently, because of the long wait times and complete
computer lock-outs, there is an extension of the deadline to renew tags
that were due in June. You now have until July 13th. If you want to
renew on-line, be careful not to press the payment submit button more
than once even if it is taking a long time to process. Each time you
press the submit button, the computer system will send another request
for payment to your credit card. The DOR has lodged a complaint with
the company that designed and implemented the new system and is working
with them to quickly address the transition and system issues with the
company and our 105 counties. Despite the waits Secretary Jordan says
the DOR has seen significant improvements since early May.
New DMV Laws Effective July 1st
House Bill 2459 will exempt a military applicant for a Class M
(motorcycle) driver's license who has completed motorcycle safety
training in accordance with Department of Defense (DOD) requirements
from state requirements for further written and driving testing.
Senate Bill 334 will allow the acceptance of an out-of-state learner's
permit for Non-Commercial class vehicles. An applicant must have held
an instructional permit issued from another state or the
District of Columbia, which has equivalent or greater requirements than
Kansas permits. The applicant must have an affidavit signed by the
applicant's parent or guardian for the 25/50 hours of adult supervised
driving.
Senate Bill 60 states that no driver can be issued a moped (motorized
bicycle) license if the driver has one of the following codes on his or
her driving record within the last five years: DI1 (DUI), DI5 (Chemical
test failure), DI3 (Refusal to submit to test for drugs or alcohol), DI8
(Entered Diversion after DUI arrest), A10 (DUI, BAC .15 or greater), A90
(Chemical test failure BAC .15 or greater), A61 (under 21 with BAC .02
or higher), A12 (new code, Chemical test refusal), RE8 (new code,
Diversion for chemical test refusal) or HR4 (Evading Arrest). These
codes are generally DUI related, you can look them up at
www.ksrevenue.org on the DC-9 Driving Record Codes (Rev 07/2012). A
moped license can be issued if the driving record does not contain one
of these codes, regardless of whether the person's driving privileges
are revoked or suspended.
Child Protection Laws
The State of Kansas Attorney General requested the legislature consider
several bills this past session to protect Kansas children from violent
crime. Testimony was heard in two of my committees, the Judiciary and
the Corrections & Juvenile Justice Committees. These are all issues
that the legislature came together on and passed the following new laws:
- The establishment of a dedicated Crimes Against Children investigation
unit at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI).
- The expansion of the digital forensics capacity at the KBI to improve
the ability to investigate on-line crimes against children.
- The extension of the statute of limitations for prosecuting violent
sex crimes against children until the victim's 23rd birthday, making
it more difficult for predators to avoid prosecution by intimidating
children under their influence.
- The prohibition of the reproduction of child pornography images during
criminal discovery, preventing the re-victimization of child victims
during prosecution of the crimes against them.
- The reduction of the amount of times a child victim must testify
during proceedings to civilly commit sexually violent predators (In
Kansas, if a sexually violent predator is determined to still be a
threat after their prison sentence, they can be committed to treatment
through civil court proceedings.)
- The strengthening of the prohibition on sexual relations between
foster parents and foster children.
- The restoration of the original intent of Jessica's Law that certain
predators who prey on children can be sentenced to lifetime supervision
by the sentencing court rather than waiting for later consideration by
the prisoner review board.
Keep in Touch
I am privileged and honored to be your voice in the Kansas Capitol. You
can track my activities on my website www.meier4kansas.com, my Facebook
page www.facebook.com/Meier4Kansas, and Twitter
www.twitter.com/melaniemeier.
If I can ever be of assistance to you, please feel free to contact me at
home or in Topeka. My office in Leavenworth is at 309 Cherokee St. My
Topeka office address is Kansas State Capitol, Topeka, KS 66612. You can
also reach me at the legislative hotline, 1-800-432-3924 or e-mail me at
melanie.meier@house.ks.gov.
If you need to directly contact a particular agency in state government,
you can find useful telephone numbers online at
http://da.state.ks.us/phonebook.
