Nevada Senate votes to extend $1 fee on all DMV transactions

The Nevada Senate voted to extend a $1 technology fee on all Department of Motor Vehicle transactions to fund a computer system modernization even though a previous attempt at modernization wasted more than $26 million of the fees.

The Senate voted 13 to 8 Monday to extend the fee, which was supposed to end next year, through June 2022.

Senate Minority Leader James A. Settelmeyer, R-Minden, opposed the measure, saying lawmakers should require a two-thirds majority vote on the bill because it is expected to collect nearly $7 million a year in new revenue.

“By having additional revenue, this bill, in my opinion, should be clearly labeled a two-thirds bill otherwise it will violate the tax restraint initiative,” he said. “We should be following the tax restraint initiative that is in our constitution.”

On Sunday, a Review-Journal story revealed how the DMV wasted more than $26 million of the fee on a 2015 modernization that sparked critical audits and required the state to fire the contractor. Troy Dillard, who headed the DMV at the time, also retired right before the contract was issued and then went to work for the contractor, records show.

Senate Bill 542 now moves to the Assembly.

Contact Arthur Kane at akane@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ArthurMKane on Twitter.