Preston Trigg, Director of Administration and Special Projects for the Hillsborough County Tax Collector, gave the public affairs reporting class a lecture on what exactly the tax collector does. However, I want to talk about something that really interested me. The tax collector office works with the Department of Motor vehicles.
The tax collectors office can issue driver licenses, license tag renewal, titles for boat and cars, hunting
& fishing licenses, and handicapped/disabled parking permits. When Trigg started about 10 years ago, people were waiting in line at the DMV for an hour to be seen. Trigg along with others began to change the way of thinking at the DMV and the Tax Collectors Office. They wanted to train their employee’s to other fields of service. So now, employees could issue driver’s license and also hunting licenses. This cut down the time at the counter.
“Now we can pin point the problem and they try to make wait times less than 15 minutes,” Trigg said.
The new system is an electronic system with numbers. You when you walk up to the front counter, you tell the clerk what you are there for, and then they can place you at the right counter. Because of this, wait times have cut down to 15 minutes.
So why is the DMV such a concern with the tax collectors office? Well, all the money collected has to be given to the tax collector’s office. And if they can make the wait times faster, then they can get their money faster. Makes sense, right!
So what records can I get from the tax collector’s office pertaining to motor vehicle records? Well, years ago, as a reporter you were able to get the records. They were wide open. However, that all changed with the Driver Privacy Protection Act of 1994.
A "motor vehicle record" means any record that pertains to a motor vehicle operator's permit, motor vehicle title, motor vehicle registration, or identification card issued by a department of motor vehicles. According to the a website called consumerprivacyguide.org, “Congress passed the Driver's Privacy Protection Act as an amendment to the Omnibus Crime Act of 1994; it restricts the public disclosure of personal information contained in state department of motor vehicle ("DMV") records.
While Driver's Privacy Protection Act generally prohibits DMV officials from knowingly disclosing personally identifiable information contained in department records, it delineates several broad exceptions.
In January of 2000, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Act in the case of Reno vs. Condon. The Court held that personal, identifying information from drivers' licenses and motor vehicle registrations is a "thing in interstate commerce" that can be regulated by Congress like any other commodity.”
Also, Trigg had mentioned that a show called “My Sister Sam” dealt with the same issues. I did some research and found that Rebecca Schaeffer was an actress on that show. An obsessed fan, Robert John Bardo, stalked Schaeffer for years. Until, finally Bardo saw Schaeffer in a movie doing a sex scene and became outraged. Living in Oregon, Bardo approached a Tucson detective agency and paid them $250 to get her home address through California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records.
Following Schaeffer's, California laws regarding the release of personal information through the DMV were drastically changed. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act was enacted in 1994, which prevents the DMV from releasing private addresses. The law's effect has subsequently been diminished by online address search services. Schaeffer's life and death became the topic of the first E! True Hollywood Story, which originally aired on March 29, 1996.
& fishing licenses, and handicapped/disabled parking permits. When Trigg started about 10 years ago, people were waiting in line at the DMV for an hour to be seen. Trigg along with others began to change the way of thinking at the DMV and the Tax Collectors Office. They wanted to train their employee’s to other fields of service. So now, employees could issue driver’s license and also hunting licenses. This cut down the time at the counter.“Now we can pin point the problem and they try to make wait times less than 15 minutes,” Trigg said.
The new system is an electronic system with numbers. You when you walk up to the front counter, you tell the clerk what you are there for, and then they can place you at the right counter. Because of this, wait times have cut down to 15 minutes.
So why is the DMV such a concern with the tax collectors office? Well, all the money collected has to be given to the tax collector’s office. And if they can make the wait times faster, then they can get their money faster. Makes sense, right!
So what records can I get from the tax collector’s office pertaining to motor vehicle records? Well, years ago, as a reporter you were able to get the records. They were wide open. However, that all changed with the Driver Privacy Protection Act of 1994.
A "motor vehicle record" means any record that pertains to a motor vehicle operator's permit, motor vehicle title, motor vehicle registration, or identification card issued by a department of motor vehicles. According to the a website called consumerprivacyguide.org, “Congress passed the Driver's Privacy Protection Act as an amendment to the Omnibus Crime Act of 1994; it restricts the public disclosure of personal information contained in state department of motor vehicle ("DMV") records.
While Driver's Privacy Protection Act generally prohibits DMV officials from knowingly disclosing personally identifiable information contained in department records, it delineates several broad exceptions.
In January of 2000, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the Act in the case of Reno vs. Condon. The Court held that personal, identifying information from drivers' licenses and motor vehicle registrations is a "thing in interstate commerce" that can be regulated by Congress like any other commodity.”
Also, Trigg had mentioned that a show called “My Sister Sam” dealt with the same issues. I did some research and found that Rebecca Schaeffer was an actress on that show. An obsessed fan, Robert John Bardo, stalked Schaeffer for years. Until, finally Bardo saw Schaeffer in a movie doing a sex scene and became outraged. Living in Oregon, Bardo approached a Tucson detective agency and paid them $250 to get her home address through California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) records.
Following Schaeffer's, California laws regarding the release of personal information through the DMV were drastically changed. The Driver's Privacy Protection Act was enacted in 1994, which prevents the DMV from releasing private addresses. The law's effect has subsequently been diminished by online address search services. Schaeffer's life and death became the topic of the first E! True Hollywood Story, which originally aired on March 29, 1996.
In conclusion, Trigg discussed many things in his lecture, but these particular things I had found interesting. It just goes to show you that as a person you do have control with your government. Whether that be a customer complaining on wait times or an actress who needs justice, things can be changed.
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