State Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver) called on Gov. Phil Murphy to sign two bills meant to ease the strain on a Motor Vehicle Commission still inundated with long lines two months after the agency reopened.
“This is really indefensible,” O’Scanlon. “First, that the Governor inexplicably has permitted the nightmare debacle that has become the MVC to continue to occur, and second that the Governor has ignored, for weeks, these common sense reforms that sit on his desk awaiting his signature. These are practical measures that both the Senate and Assembly endorsed on August 27 and forwarded to the Governor’s desk.”
The bills would create MVC hours dedicated to the elderly and those with medical conditions that make them susceptible to COVID-19, extend deadlines to register vehicles and obtain new driver’s licenses for new state residents and allow the agency to continue using old photos during the pandemic.
Both bills were passed unanimously by the Assembly and State Senate on Aug. 27 and have since sat on the governor’s desk.
“He could have signed them and provided immediate benefit to many New Jersey drivers,” O’Scanlon said. “Murphy has dragged this out for almost two weeks. His reluctance to take action is puzzling, and every resident waiting in a line to renew a license or register a title is paying the price in wasted time and lost productivity.”
The troubles at the MVC have become a rallying cry for Republicans dissatisfied with Murphy’s handling of the state’s reopening. The agency, shuttered for months after the start of the pandemic, has been swarmed by residents since reopening.
Those lines have persisted despite the governor’s extending expiration deadlines for driver’s licenses and state identification cards.
“Day after day, New Jersey residents must wait for hours in long, unnecessary lines. These bills should have been signed two hours after they landed on his desk,” O’Scanlon said. “There’s nothing controversial or debatable here. They offer good, common-sense solutions to a situation that has gone on far too long. The measures will help some folks directly, but cut lines down for everyone. That we even need legislation is puzzling as the Governor hasn’t hesitated to make pronouncements and govern by Executive Order throughout the pandemic.”