Businesses recoil from steep fee increase for state records

Since 1998, companies exempt from the Federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act have been able to purchase the records from DOR for $1.25 apiece after obtaining an access code. On May 1, that per-record price jumped to $7 – a change that blindsided some Springfield businesspeople.

Insurance companies, staffing agencies and large national firms, such as Carfax Inc., that repackage and sell the data are among the companies that routinely purchase the records, said DOR spokesman David Griffith.

Mickey Moore, owner of Springfield-based Employee Screening Services, said the state never notified him about the fee increase even though his business conducts about 3,000 motor-vehicle record checks annually.

“We unfortunately have to pass that along to the customer,” Moore said. “In this case, we’re passing the full increase on to our clients, but explaining that increase to them has posed a little bit of a challenge.”

Griffith said DOR raised the fees to fund a $50 million integrated computer system upgrade that would consolidate 23 different systems in place since the 1960s and 70s. He said the new system would benefit law enforcement officers by allowing them to run checks solely from a license plate, removing the need to confront drivers for a photo ID.

Previously, many larger, out-of-state companies purchased the entire DOR database – about 4.2 million records – for a little more than $2,000. The fee increase put the cost of that database at $28 million, but legislators intervened in the last week of the regular session by capping the cost for bulk purchasers at a half-cent per record, or about $20,000 total.

The cap – a move endorsed by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce – was passed in the form of an amendment to Senate Bill 711, which requires taxing entities to roll back property tax rates in reassessment years regardless of whether the tax is being levied at the voter-sanctioned ceiling.

The day before the bill was passed, three companies ¬– Carfax owner R.L. Polk & Co., Explore Information Services and SAMBA Holdings – sued DOR over the fee increase. The case, which claims that the high cost violates the Missouri Sunshine Law, is pending in Cole County Circuit Court.

See SBJ’s May 26 issue for more about the DOR fee increase and other business-related legislation approved in the last session.