[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3555 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3555

 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to conduct an assessment of 
available technologies for establishing a system to access information 
   regarding the motor vehicle driving records of all motor vehicle 
                    operators in the United States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 25, 1998

    Mr. Moran of Virginia (for himself, Mrs. Morella, Mr. Wynn, Ms. 
   Lofgren, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Lampson, and Mrs. Lowey) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation 
                           and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Transportation to conduct an assessment of 
available technologies for establishing a system to access information 
   regarding the motor vehicle driving records of all motor vehicle 
                    operators in the United States.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Driver Record Information 
Verification System Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) State statutory, regulatory, and adjudicatory 
        procedures make it very difficult for States to send, receive, 
        and maintain driver conviction information in a manner that is 
        nationally consistent and uniform;
            (2) problem drivers can and do avoid detection and 
        corrective action;
            (3) the federally established commercial driver license 
        information system and the national driver register problem 
        driver pointer system affect only a small portion of the total 
        driving population;
            (4) the commercial driver license information system does 
        not prevent a commercial driver from having multiple 
        noncommercial licenses and the problem driver pointer system 
        encourages the dispersal of a person's driving record across 
        multiple jurisdictions;
            (5) most States do not have the infrastructure to track 
        citations electronically or in a timely manual fashion through 
        the court system to the driver licensing agency;
            (6) a high percentage of citations and convictions are 
        never posted or recorded on a driver's record, making it 
        difficult for law enforcement, judicial, and administrative 
        agencies to obtain an individual's complete driving history and 
        impairing the ability of the agencies to identify and control 
        problem drivers; and
            (7) Congress should facilitate the creation of a new 
        database on driver license history that will afford law 
        enforcement, judicial, and administrative agencies with a more 
        effective tool to improve highway safety by providing for the 
        instant retrieval of a driver's complete driving history and 
        minimizing the potential for a driver to obtain multiple valid 
        driver licenses.

SEC. 3. TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Transportation, in conjunction 
with the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, shall 
conduct an assessment of available technologies to determine the most 
feasible and economical means of establishing a system to access 
information regarding the motor vehicle driving record of each motor 
vehicle operator in the United States.
    (b) Requirements.--With respect to each technology assessed under 
subsection (a), the Secretary shall make the following determinations:
            (1) Whether information from the system can be accessed 
        quickly, in accordance with the needs of the States.
            (2) Whether a motor vehicle operator can be accurately 
        identified on each access of the system.
            (3) Whether the system can withstand the volume of 
        inquiries that would result from full implementation of the 
        system.
            (4) The costs to States and the Federal Government of 
        implementing, operating, and maintaining the system.
            (5) Impacts, other than costs, on States and the Federal 
        Government.
    (c) Assessment of Use of Social Security Numbers.--The Secretary, 
in consultation with the Commissioner of Social Security, shall assess 
the usefulness and cost-effectiveness of using the social security 
account numbers as the basis for identification of motor vehicle 
operators within the system.
    (d) State Participation.--The Secretary shall obtain the motor 
vehicle driving records necessary for carrying out the assessment from 
States that agree to participate in the assessment. The Secretary may 
use amounts appropriated to carry out this section to reimburse States 
for costs associated with such participation.
    (e) Report to Congress.--Not later than 2 years after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall transmit to Congress a 
report containing the results of the assessment, together with 
recommendations for appropriate administrative and legislative actions. 
The report shall include an estimate of Federal and State costs of 
operating the database, as well as a description of other impacts of 
system implementation.
    (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section $5,000,000 for fiscal years 
beginning after September 30, 1998.
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