TxDMV Board Update - March 2015

Texas Department of Motor Vehicles sent this bulletin at 04/02/2015 04:07 PM CDT

March 31, 2015

TxDMV Board Update

Whitney Brewster, Executive Director

Salado Bridge Collision

The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles continues to work with our partner agencies on the investigation into Thursday’s tragic collision in Salado. Based on a review of our records as well as the inspection report issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety, the motor carrier that struck the bridge did not have the legally required permit to carry an over-height load.

RTS Outage

We experienced an outage of the Registration and Titling (RTS) system for approximately five hours on the afternoon of March 24. This outage prevented registration transactions both in person and online, as well as the eTags system for dealers. The outage was due to a hardware failure of the primary database server’s power supplies. The hardware failure occurred in such a manner that the automatic switchover to the backup server did not occur. Moving forward we are working with the Department of Information Resources (DIR) and the Data Center Services (DCS) support staff that manage the hardware. DCS is conducting a root cause analysis to identify what happened, how it could have been prevented and what can be done to further limit the risk of repeat occurrences. It is events such as this that reinforce the need to continue moving forward with the RTS Refactoring Project.

Supreme Court Case

On March 23, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc. The two issues for the court to decide are: (1) Whether the messages and images that appear on state-issued specialty license plates qualify as government speech immune from any requirement of viewpoint neutrality; and (2) whether Texas engaged in “viewpoint discrimination” by rejecting the license-plate design proposed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, when Texas has not issued any license plate that portrays the confederacy or the confederate battle flag in a negative or critical light. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

AAMVA Workshop

I had the pleasure of attending the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (AAMVA) 2015 Workshop & Law Institute on March 18-19 in Fort Worth and making opening remarks along with AAMVA President & CEO Anne Ferro and AAMVA Vice Chair Richard Holcomb from the Virginia DMV. Some of the workshop topics were very relevant to our agency, including how to leverage the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) to improve business practices, the titling and registration of three-wheeled vehicles like the Polaris Slingshot, and the regulation of transportation networking companies such as Uber and Lyft.

VTR News

“Two Steps, One Sticker” Comes to Texas Windshields

Vehicle registration-based enforcement of inspections went into effect March 1. The law requires vehicles in Texas to have a current, passing state inspection before registration or registration renewal.

On March 2, we discovered data provided by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) had formatting errors affecting the automated retrieval of vehicle inspection information. This compelled county tax assessor-collectors’ (TAC) clerks to manually verify inspections, causing longer than normal wait times in busier offices. TxDMV programmers worked overnight to temporarily correct the problem, and TCEQ issued a permanent correction soon thereafter. Thanks to their combined efforts, RTS’ automatic check of inspection information hit a 97 percent success rate in the initial weeks of the program.

The second issue involved a printing error that resulted in the need to reprint a small subset of the renewal notices for those customers whose registration expires on April 30. To remedy this error and to reduce the likelihood of the customer providing insufficient payment, the April renewal notices containing the incorrect fee amount, which have not already been processed by the county, were reprinted and mailed with the correct amount.

VTR continued to hold training webinars on the program throughout the month to address technical and operational concerns from users. VTR targeted the most recent sessions toward TAC offices. VTR also held webinars in February for stakeholders including leasing and rental companies, county subcontractors, and the county TAC offices.

TxDMV Regional Service Centers (RSCs) responded to more than 1,300 emails and 4,700 calls on single sticker through March 24.

The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and TCEQ continue to hold daily sessions with our agency to assess implementation and fine-tune the program in preparation for its second year.

The vendors RT Lawrence and Technique Data Systems successfully programmed changes for processing renewals concerning single sticker. Counties use their machines to process high volumes of mail-in renewals through WebSub. Counties completed approximately 25,000 renewals using WebSub remittance in February. HEB, TxDMV’s largest WebSub client, implemented single sticker changes on March 17 and encountered no issues. TxDMV received no reports of issues from other WebSub users.

The “Two Steps, One Sticker” education outreach campaign is continuing. Our radio ads will be running statewide into the summer.

The Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) reports that the project warranty period will end on March 31. The Governance Team opened a new project for Single Sticker Phase II which must be implemented by March 1, 2016.

webDEALER for Used Vehicles Is Live

On March 1, VTR rolled out used vehicle functionality for webDEALER for use statewide. Pilot dealers and counties reported no issues and statewide implementation has been successful. Since implementation, 108 dealers have submitted more than 3,000 used vehicle transactions, which is more than they submitted during the entire four-month pilot period. The March webDEALER update includes the transfer of used vehicles, single sticker functionality, and enhancements to document uploading and viewing. VTR and ITS made these enhancements based on feedback from webDEALER counties and dealers.

Title Services and Registration Services are working with EPMO analysts on business requirements for upcoming webDEALER phases. May’s scheduled update includes capturing the method of payment in webDEALER and a component to allow rental companies and large fleet purchasers to title and register vehicles through webDEALER. VTR has also begun gathering business requirements for payment centralization and the integration of eTags into webDEALER.

RTS Refactoring Work Stays Steady

This month TxDMV collaborated with TACs to bring front-line clerks to our Austin headquarters to work side-by-side with RSC personnel and RTS refactoring developers to perform user acceptance testing (UAT). These regional and county users completed more than 3,600 point-of-sale tests. TxDMV surveyed UAT participants about their experience, and so far, the responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Point-of-sale developers shared their appreciation for having a local perspective when identifying and prioritizing defects. The testers can provide real-world examples of the potential impact on users.

Stakeholder Meetings Held

VTR held an informational webinar on February 26 to discuss RTS refactoring with county TACs. More than 328 representatives of counties and RSCs attended. The webinar provided updates from the RTS Refactoring Project, including a demonstration of the system, a project timeline, and a presentation of the new Cognos reporting features. TxDMV hosted an RTS Refactoring Workshop on March 17 with employees from Bexar, Williamson, Nueces, McClellan, and Callahan counties. The workshop provided participants with an overview of refactoring progress to date as well as an opportunity to test drive the Cognos enterprise reporting tool. The attendees provided feedback on draft training materials and said the tool was intuitive to use. We appreciate their participation and value their feedback.

New License Plate Update

The Iowa State University vendor license plate will go into production on May 30, after receiving 218 paid pre-orders over five months. The Lone Star 1836 plate, with 290 paid pre-orders as of March 18, will also begin production that day, as will the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center plate. All have received board approval.

On March 2, TxDMV began selling the Daughters of the American Revolution plate (approved in November 2014), the Take Care of Texas plate (approved in July 2014), and the Angelo State University plate. TxDMV also began selling two plate designs from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, “Hummingbird” and “Rattlesnake.”

As of March 18, vendor plates the TxDMV Board approved in November 2014 have received few paid pre-orders: Autism Speaks has 48 pre-orders, Delta Gamma Fraternity has 17, Lamar University has 71, and Ronald McDonald House has 67. Vendor plates approved by the board on February 13, are also available for paid pre-orders. As of March 18, pre-order counts are: Dallas Mavericks Crossover, 2; Gas Monkey Garage, 44; and Texas Oil and Gas, 84.

My Plates Capitalizes on Basketball Fever

My Plates is hosting a 30-day, online auction of 68 basketball-themed, personalized plate patterns. The auction runs from March 6 to April 6. The vendor also announced a prospective plan to buy unexpired vanity plate patterns from motorists. My Plates intends to gauge the public’s interest in the “Buy-Back” plan by allowing potential sellers to register on myplates.com. Transportation Code, Section 504.854, authorizes the board by rule to allow the private vendor to auction patterns for a period of time, reserve patterns for auction, and purchase unexpired patterns from customers for auction.

My Plates’ Inventory Management

As required in its renewed contract with TxDMV, My Plates will soon discontinue 18 specialty plates with fewer than 50 active registrations each. Over the last year, My Plates notified its plate sponsors this action could occur. Based on registration data, the department foresees the discontinuance of 40 more vendor plates over June, September, and December. My Plates will formally notify affected customers they may keep their specialty plates for the term purchased.

Title Services Trains Austin Police Department on Title Fraud

On February 26, VTR Title Fraud Investigator Robert Foster trained seven detectives with the Austin Police Department’s Auto Theft Interdiction Project (ATIP) on title fraud. The unit receives Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority (ABTPA) funding. The training included instruction on compliance with ABTPA reporting requirements. The detectives received six hours of instruction. Robert gave examples of how criminals alter or forge vehicle titles, including Texas titles and out-of-state-titles. He gave the detectives information on resources TxDMV provides to check titles’ validity, along with techniques and methods to investigate and identify title fraud. He also provided example spreadsheets to help manage large-scale investigations. Lastly, they reviewed relevant state and federal criminal statutes and discussed how to prepare such cases for prosecution.

Project Updates

Here is an update from EPMO on some of our other major projects.

Active Projects

The Communications Program / Call Centers and RO construction projects are on schedule.

The RTS Refactored Point of Sale (POS) phased deployment start date is being postponed from April 13 to May 18. The decision was due to load and stress test results. Deloitte agreed to absorb the estimated $115,000 cost to retain staff longer, and TxDMV agreed to cover the $45,000 costs to increase the memory and capacity on servers in the production environment. The existing test environment is not sufficient to handle the full load anticipated in production. Deloitte will perform linear scale testing by taking snapshots of actual production demand and extrapolating demand into scalable capacity forecasts. Mainframe migration is still on target for August 3.

The LACE project is currently behind schedule. Cycles 1 and 2 of vendor evaluations, including demonstrations and scoring, are complete. A budget increase will be required to award a contract to the vendor. Funding has been identified and will be transferred to the LACE project. The increased budget will require approval by the Governance Team and the Texas Quality Assurance Team (QAT) made up of one member each from the Legislative Budget Board, Department of Information Resources, and the State Auditors' Office. Purchasing has been authorized to proceed with contract negotiations with the winning vendor. Once the contract is finalized, the project schedule will be re-baselined and approved by the Governance Team.

Closed Projects

The Temporary Permits project closed on time in September 2014, within scope and $33,000 under budget.

The Communication Program Headquarters Infrastructure project closed on time on February 28, within scope and $153,000 under budget.

Government and Strategic Communications Report

Legislative Update

The bill filing deadline for the 84th Legislature was Friday, March 13. With 4,247 bills filed in the House and 2,058 bills filed in the Senate, a total of 6,305 bills were filed. Please note the following bills relate to the 84th Legislative Agenda adopted by the TxDMV Board in November:

The month of April will include hearings for the majority of bills. SB 1043 is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Transportation Committee April 1; HB 2701 is scheduled to be heard by the House Transportation Committee April 2. We anticipate committee substitutes for both bills, which will include some minor wording changes and also language cleaning up the Single-Sticker statutes. That language will include clarification of inspection needs for TxIRP vehicles, commercial fleet buyers, and out-of-state vehicles.

Some other committees have been of interest, including the House Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee, led by Chairwoman Susan King, which considered several military specialty license plate bills. The committee also requested a presentation provided by Jeremiah Kuntz on existing military plates. The committee was interested in the number of registrations for each special plate offered, and we highlighted a 75 percent increase in the number of military plate registrations from FY 2010 to FY 2014, noting approximately 60 percent of all military plates were created between 2011 and today. The House Transportation Subcommittee on Designation and Naming of Roads and Plates met on March 10 and is scheduled to meet again March 31 under the direction of Subcommittee Chair “Mando” Martinez. Several specialty license plate bills have been heard by the committee along with roadway designation legislation.

The General Appropriations Act is on the move in both chambers. The House Appropriations Committee met earlier this month to consider Article VII items, including an approval for $11.9 million in FY 17 to accommodate TxDMV headquarters relocation and leasing needs, and also approval for $7.3 million in automation/IT services. Many of the other exceptional items were moved to Article XI to keep these items included in future budget discussions. Placing items in Article XI allows legislative leadership to consider these needs once the overall availability of funds becomes more defined later in the session. HB 1, the House version of the General Appropriations Act, is set to be considered on the House Floor March 31.

The Senate Finance Committee met on March 24 and approved the department’s exceptional items, including additional enforcement staff, replacement vehicles and new fleet vehicles; the committee did not approve Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN) and Auto Burglary and Theft Prevention Authority (ABTPA) grants. Senate Finance appointed a workgroup to review agency exceptional items related to facilities requests. The workgroup approved the ability for the Texas Facilities Commission to issue revenue bonds in the amount of $59 million to cover the TxDMV facilities request. Senate Finance also appointed a workgroup to review agency exceptional items for IT-related requests. The workgroup approved TxDMV’s exception items related to automation funding and data center consolidation efforts and approved the cyber security request for Article XI. The Senate is going to wait for the House version to make it to their committee, and then work on incorporating these recommendations into HB 1.

Due to the differences between the House and Senate versions of the General Appropriations Act, those items not matching, such as the facilities recommendations, will be up for further debate and discussion in conference committee.

Of note, SB 5 and SJR 5 by Nichols regarding the dedication of motor fuels taxes to the State Highway Fund have been passed by the Senate. Little debate surrounded the discussion on the Senate Floor, but they were received by the House on March 5 and have yet to be referred to committee.

Our staff continued discussions with representatives from Uber and Lyft on the status of HB 2440 by Paddie providing for statewide regulation of Transportation Network Companies by TxDMV. We continue to discuss the language related to oversight functions, such as auditing and the availability of relevant information, and anticipate the bill will be considered in House Transportation in the near future.

Media Inquiries

The following news organizations asked questions about the Salado bridge collision, and staff provided them with the statement that’s at the beginning of this report and referred them to DPS for information about the law enforcement investigation and citations issued to the driver:

Austin American-Statesman

Bryan/College Station Eagle

Dallas Morning News

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

KCEN-TV (Waco)

KEYE-TV (Austin)

KRLD-AM (Dallas/Fort Worth)

KTBC-TV (Austin)

KTVT-TV (Dallas/Fort Worth)

KVUE-TV (Austin)

KXAN-TV (Austin)

KXXV-TV (Waco)

Land Line Magazine

Texas State Radio Network

WFAA-TV (Dallas/Fort Worth)

Motor Carrier Division Director Jimmy Archer explains the Oversize/Overweight permit process to KXAN-TV (Austin)

The following news organizations asked questions or requested interviews about the Supreme Court Case Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc.:

KEYE-TV (Austin)

VICE News

Dallas Morning News

Associated Press

KRLD-AM (Dallas/Fort Worth)

Reuters

The Wall Street Journal

MSNBC

Agence France-Presse

KXAN-TV (Austin)

KENS-TV (San Antonio)

RT America (Washington, DC)

KAUZ-TV (Wichita Falls)

The Guardian (UK)

The Christian Post

Staff referred all media inquiries about the case to the Office of the Attorney General of Texas.

Government and Strategic Communications Division (GSC) staff also received and responded to the following media inquiries in March:

Marissa Barnett with the Dallas Morning News requested copies of board meeting minutes. Staff showed her where they are posted online.

Holly Wagner with Dealer News asked for the status of proposed legislation related to the Polaris Slingshot. Staff provided the bill numbers and showed her how to track the status on the legislative website.

Brian Rosenthal with the Houston Chronicle submitted a request under the Public Information Act for data related to our agency’s tuition reimbursement policy. Staff provided the information.

Kirstin Nill with KXII-TV (Sherman) requested an interview about auto theft. ABTPA staff put her in contact with a local law enforcement agency.

Barry Davis with KENS-TV (San Antonio) asked how consumers can file a complaint against motor vehicle dealers. Staff directed him to the complaint form online.

Andra Lim with the Austin American-Statesman requested historical vehicle registration data. Staff provided the information.

Ben Wear with the Austin American-Statesman and Lindsay Bramson with KXAN-TV (Austin) asked questions about an RTS system outage that we experienced on March 24. Staff answered their questions.

R.G. Ratcliffe with Texas Monthly requested details about the distribution of specialty license plate revenue. Staff provided the information.

ABTPA Board Meeting

The ABTPA Board convened on March 25 in San Marcos to discuss and vote on several policy issues. Staff also presented a legislative update. The day prior to the meeting, staff held a day-long grant training presented by ABTPA and TxDMV. The grant training was attended by city and county staff from jurisdictions wanting to apply for a FY16 grant. Two hours of the workshop were dedicated to Law Enforcement training. The Request for Proposals for the FY16 grant was issued on March 27.

Enforcement News

Training/Speaking engagements provided by the Enforcement Division

A Dealer Training Seminar was held in Midland on March 19, attended by dealers, law enforcement personnel, tax office employees and other industry related individuals. On February 26, investigators from the oversize/overweight and motor carrier sections conducted law enforcement training in the city of Sunrise Beach (Llano County) to educate officers on how to recognize unlicensed moving and bus companies and weight/size issues. Division Investigator Mike Mize has relocated from the TxDOT facility in LaMarque to offices owned by the Galveston County Sherriff’s Department where the local Motor Vehicle Task Force is located. Enforcement hopes this move is the first step in our efforts to work closer with ABTPA activities throughout the state.

Lemon Law Section updates

Number of complaints received for February – 34

Number of files closed for February – 21

Average time to close complaint:

Enforcement Division Statistics and Miscellaneous

Motor Vehicle Section: There were 417 new investigative files opened in February. The amount of reimbursement to consumer/complainants as a result of Enforcement Division action during the month of February was $10,521. The amount of administrative penalties collected during the month of February as a result of Enforcement Division action was $97,475.

Motor Carrier Sections/Size and Weight: There were 40 new investigations opened in February. The amount of administrative penalties collected during the month of February as a result of Enforcement Division action was $91,933.

Motor Carrier Sections/Credentialing-Household Goods: There were 573 new investigations opened in February (535 motor carrier insurance issues, 15 household goods mover issues and 23 motor carrier credentialing issues). The amount of administrative penalties collected during the month of February as a result of Enforcement Division action was $110,835.

Motor Carrier Division News

Staff from the Motor Carrier Division (MCD) participated in the following training or outreach events in March:

Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association 2015 Specialized Transportation Symposium/WASHTO Spring Meeting on March 2-6 in Atlanta.

Commercial Vehicle Information Systems and Networks (CVISN) Working Group on March 12 in Austin.

Meeting with Chambers County officials regarding permits and the movement of bulk products on March 16 in Austin.

TxPROS half-day training class on March 18 in Austin.

Texas Trucking Association (TxTA) Spring Seminar on March 25-27 in Waco.

Motor Vehicle Division News

The Motor Vehicle Division has been active this month assisting legislative offices and stakeholders as motor vehicle bills were introduced. MVD’s support has been well received.

MVD’s excellent customer service has again been recognized in customer service surveys. Here are some recent comments:

I like how you can follow your application renewal.

Everything was great!

Proved once again that dealing with a government bureau CAN be pleasant.

Best government agency that I have ever worked with – by far!

Customer Feedback

We also regularly receive great feedback in the Consumer Relations Division. Here are some recent comments:

Suzanne was incredibly helpful and friendly. My husband is a U.S. Foreign Service officer and we are currently in the Washington area for training before traveling to post in Ciudad Juarez. We have really been missing Texas’ helpfulness and hospitality, and Suzanne gave me a great dose of both. She was incredibly helpful and friendly and made sure we understood what we need to do to get our care titled in my husband’s name so we can have it transported to our post. We routinely have to make our way through various government bureaucracies and if they were all as easy to navigate and had employees as helpful as Suzanne we would be delighted. –Unknown

Tony was by far the greatest help I could have ever gotten. He answered my questions in no time and without a hassle, and with a smile. That is VERY rare these days, I wish there were a Tony on the other line of every phone call. –Unknown

The best customer service ever. Melissa was polite, patient (cause I was confused), very informative, she kindly put me on hold and explained what she was doing and double checked to make sure all the information was correct. Great customer service like this, all companies should know who is representing them. Star 5! –Lesia Beard

Love the online experience. Good job! – Unknown

I also want to share with you a comment from our agency’s Facebook page. During the RTS outage on March 24, a customer posted an angry public comment on our page. After receiving an apologetic and empathizing reply from GSC staff and assistance from our Houston Regional Service Center, the customer posted this appreciative follow-up comment:

Thank you. I understand issues happen and it’s frustrating to all. The handling of the situation was very professionally taken care of in the end by I believe her name is Charlotte [Kirk] at the Houston office. And I thank her and the TxDMV for that.