Proposed bill would bring back DMV registration reminders for Utah drivers

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — Utah drivers may once again start getting postcards from the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) reminding them to get their vehicle registered.

Bill would send Utah drivers a reminder postcard

The reminder postcards went away in September after the DMV was told to make budget cuts due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, Representative Scott Chew, R-Jensen, is trying to get those postcards back with a new bill. Speaking to members of the House Transportation Committee on Monday, he argued that senior citizens and other groups still rely on physical reminders.

“Small businesses that have multiple vehicles scattered across three states,” he says. “They know where their vehicles are, but they don’t have them set up to know when they expire.”

Hearing from those who rely on the reminder

The committee also heard from a local small business owner who supports the proposed bill.

“My family also owns and operates on a farm in Uintah County, and we have 20 vehicles to license,” explains Marcia Hanberg. “It has been especially challenging for us to keep up with it, because nobody is specifically assigned to deal with that issue, with registering the vehicles. So we’ve always relied on the state to notify service of this.”

The DMV does allow vehicle owners to sign up for notifications via email at dmv.utah.gov/register, although Chew argues it isn’t a solution for everyone.

“It’s OK to move towards electronic [reminders], but we need to have a means to do that instead of just cold turkey jerking the rug out from everybody,” he explains.

HB170 will now go to the full House for debate after members of the committee unanimously backed reinstating the postcards. One change is that there would be an added fee, for printing and postage costs, to vehicle owners who don’t want emailed notices.