2023 Winners

International and Region 2

Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles

Private Rebuilt Vehicle Inspection Program Partnership

The Private Rebuilt Vehicle Inspection Program (PRVIP) was created to reduce the ever-increasing demands on the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles regional field offices. This program was authorized by the Florida legislature to allow private entities to conduct inspections on rebuilt vehicles which had previously been deemed salvage/rebuildable. Initially approved as a pilot program in one South Florida county (Miami-Dade), the PRVIP has been expanded throughout the entire state and is currently approved for use in 12 counties. By allowing third-party providers the ability to offer these inspection services, department staff have more time to focus on core activities and maintain operational efficiency without the need for additional staff. The addition of the PRVIP providers has reduced the wait time for an inspection at a regional office to less than one week. In most cases, the PRVIP providers are able to provide same day inspection service. During FY21/22, the state of Florida saw more than 103,000 salvage rebuildable vehicles inspected and placed back on the roadway as a rebuilt vehicle. The third-party providers were responsible for over 88,000 of these inspections.

Region 1

Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles

License and Identity Workshop

Massachusetts State Representative Carlos Gonzalez approached the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) looking for a solution for his Puerto Rican born constituents who were unable to meet the RMV’s identification requirements. The RMV, like all jurisdictions, for more than a dozen years, has required that Puerto Rican birth certificate must have been issued after July of 2010 in order to be accepted as part of the identity processes. In 2018, the RMV began requiring all existing and renewal customers, applying for either a REAL ID or standard Massachusetts credential to produce acceptable documents to prove lawful presence. Many Puerto Rican born customers who were longtime residents of Western Massachusetts did not have access to an acceptable document. To mail away to receive a new birth record, Puerto Rico requires a copy of the applicant’s valid, unexpired, photo identification. Customers with expired Massachusetts licenses and IDs were in a bind and the RMV needed to adjust existing processes to account for this population-specific challenge. The RMV developed and implemented a process whereby customers who submitted proof of a replacement birth record order would be issued a short-term, one-year credential, that would allow them to receive a valid form of identification needed to complete their birth record replacement order. Representative Gonzalez’s office organized the workshop to help his constituents learn about this program. At the conclusion of the workshop, approximately 40 appointments for service were made and close to 100 individuals were educated on the issue to help friends, family members, and clients.

Region 3

Iowa Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Division

Iowa Motor Carrier Outreach Meetings

Iowa DOT Motor Vehicle Division hosted a series of five regional workshops in 2022 to provide Iowa motor carrier companies with information about safety, enforcement, and business practices relating to a variety of trucking functions. A total of 139 motor carrier representatives attended to hear presentations from four distinct business areas within Iowa DOT: enforcement, audits, customer service, and commercial driver licensing. Motor carriers in Iowa interact with Iowa DOT in several different ways. This wide range of subjects and contacts between motor carriers and Iowa DOT sometimes leads to confusion for customers and the agency along with the potential for incorrect or inconsistent information to be shared. Motor carrier customers need to obtain answers from multiple areas and are uncertain as to who oversees what topic. To help address this confusion, Iowa DOT convened all of the relevant business areas to create and offer a combined full-day workshop for motor carriers with in-person presentations and question-answer sessions with all of the business units. In a post-workshop survey, 85% of respondents rated the workshops as either "excellent" or "very good" and 92% stated it was either "extremely" or "very" well organized. Respondents indicated the speakers were knowledgeable and approachable, that presentations were informative and incredible, and greatly appreciated the open and conversational approach.

Region 4

California Department of Motor Vehicles

Vehicle Dismantler Industry Strike Team (VDIST)

California established a Vehicle Industry Dismantler Strike Team (VDIST) with DMV Investigations serving as the lead agency. This strike team is comprised of 17 state and local agencies and coordinates enforcement and compliance activity related to unlicensed and unregulated automobile dismantling. These efforts range from protecting environmental and public health to tax evasion. This collaboration makes enforcement more efficient and effective by identifying overlapping policies and making specialized equipment, skills, and training available across agencies. The VDIST also created a centralized referral system that allows an investigative agency to share information about violations with a partner agency. The referral process increases compliance, promotes efficiency and aids in reducing costs to all participating agencies. The cost savings are realized through leveraging existing onsite investigators to appropriately identify violations and make referrals, reducing the time to mitigate dangerous violations. The enforcement efforts in 2022 yielded exceptional results with 332 inspections and 208 businesses cited for violations of business and professions codes, vehicle codes, and environmental laws. A total of 208 citations were issued and 116 referrals were made to state and local environmental agencies. While most of the DMV's time in this partnership focuses on identifying environmental and public health issues, more than a third of the DMV's efforts involve investigative work that deals with catalytic converter thefts, which are high-value items that are often sold through unlicensed dismantlers. This effort resulted in the confiscation of 966 catalytic converters.