
Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, quickly signaled his intentions to kill a plan that would move oversight of the state’s problem-riddled driver’s license bureaus from the Department of Public Safety to the Secretary of State’s office.
The plan, unveiled this week by newly-elected Secretary of State Michael Watson, was announced Tuesday at an 11 a.m. press conference that about one dozen House Republicans attended. By 5 p.m., the Republican speaker’s staff told Mississippi Today that the proposal does not have Gunn’s support.
“While the Speaker is committed to seeing improvements at the state’s drivers license bureaus, he does not support moving oversight of the services to the Secretary of State’s office,” said Emily Simmons, Gunn’s spokeswoman. “He believes the services can be best improved within the Department of Public Safety, with the ultimate goal being to make the process as efficient as possible for Mississippians.”
Watson, a Republican and former state senator who won the 2019 secretary of state election in a landslide, centered his successful campaign on DMV reform.
Gunn’s public resistance to the proposal this week all but kills it in the House, where the speaker’s position regularly makes or breaks major pieces of legislation. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
The state’s driver’s license facilities have for months been plagued with long lines and wait times, and many often close with no advance notice due to short staffs. Mississippians report having to wait all day for simple services or having to come back another day when the bureaus close at 5 p.m.
Department of Public Safety leaders have long asked the Legislature for additional funding to bolster DMV service. Last year, department officials told lawmakers 48 of its 134 driver’s license examiner positions were vacant.
Watson’s sweeping proposal would create a renewal notification system, a digital license option, an new website and an increase in the number of locations and functions of kiosks. His proposal would also outsource driving and written tests, and it would allow a more seamless way to register new Mississippi drivers to vote — a federal mandate that some states have failed in recent years to follow.
About a dozen Republican House members attended Watson’s announcement on Tuesday. Watson said his proposal would be sponsored in the Legislature by Rep. Lee Yancey, R-Brandon, and Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch.
Watson said on Tuesday that the drafting of the bill was not yet completed. Lawmakers face a Feb. 17 deadline to file general bills.
Republish this article
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
- Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS).
- Editorial cartoons and photo essays are not included under the Creative Commons license and therefore do not have the "Republish This Story" button option. To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
- You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
- If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.
- You have to credit Mississippi Today. We prefer “Author Name, Mississippi Today” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Mississippi Today” and include our website, mississippitoday.org.
- You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
- You cannot republish our editorial cartoons, photographs, illustrations or graphics without specific permission (contact our managing editor Kayleigh Skinner for more information). To learn more about our cartoon syndication services, click here.
- Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
- You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
- You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
- Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
- If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @MSTODAYnews on Facebook and @MSTODAYnews on Twitter.