Something is terribly wrong at the California Department of Motor Vehicles. While it’s never been a joy to deal with this particular bureaucracy, things have gone from consistently unpleasant to hellish in the last few months.
Customer lines are snaking out the doors of DMV field offices, down the street and around the block. People are forced to wait several hours for service at some offices — even those who were able to obtain appointments. And the appointment system itself is a wreck: If you ask for one today, you will probably be offered a date a couple of months from now.
DMV officials blame the problem on the crush of people seeking licenses that are compliant with the federal “Real ID” law. That law, passed by Congress in 2005, set new, higher standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification; after October 2020, people will need either a U.S. passport or a Real ID to board domestic flights or gain access to certain federal buildings. As a result of the new law, there are now more people seeking licenses — and the processing time for each applicant is longer as well.
But the DMV has known this was coming for 13 years — and was allocated $70 million extra last year to get ready. So what’s the sudden crisis? That’s a question that deserves better answers than agency director Jean Shiomoto provided in legislative hearings this week. There are others as well: Why,…
