Nixon signs license office reform in Springfield

Gov. Jay Nixon was in Springfield Wednesday to sign House bills 381 and 683, which codify his reforms to the state's license office award process.

Nixon signed the bills at the Springfield license office at 3061 S. Fremont Ave., accompanied by Missouri Department of Revenue Director Karen Mitchell, whose department oversees the bidding process. The Fremont office was awarded to Alternative Opportunities Inc. earlier this year under the state's new competitive bidding process.

In the past, license offices were typically awarded to political contributors or campaign supporters and were based on the governor's decisions.

"For too long, the only meaningful factor in determining who ran our state's license offices was political support," Nixon said in a news release. "When I took office, we removed politics from the process. We put these offices up for competitive bid as we would any other government contract and made efficiency and service to the customer the key criteria."

The competitive process takes into account a bidder's experience, the planned hours of operation, and business factors such as credit and financing, according to the release. The process also gives preference to nonprofit and civic organizations and to bidders who pledge to return some of their proceeds to the state.

Also new is a requirement that all bid documents and scores from staff members who review the bids be made public online.

HB 381 passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 149-7, without opposition from the Senate. HB 683 was approved 108-52 in the House and 30-3 in the Senate.

The legislation takes effect Aug. 28, but 28 offices in Missouri already have been awarded using the new bidding process.[[In-content Ad]]