Louisiana OMV technical issues trigger emergency declaration
The Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles location on Veterans Boulevard in New Orleans. (Greg LaRose/Louisiana Illuminator)
Gov. Jeff Landry has declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, citing the need to immediately address system outages at the state Office of Motor Vehicles that have caused crippling delays in processing drivers' licenses, vehicle titles and registration services.
An executive order Landry issued Thursday notes that for the past several weeks, OMV's computer system has been experiencing frequent outages due to its 50-year-old mainframe applications. The state Office of Technology Services and Unisys, the state's IT contractor, are actively investigating the outages to restore stability to the system but have not been able to identify the issue, according to the governor.
The order also notes the mainframe lacks redundancies, leaving it vulnerable to cyber attacks, though Landry spokeswoman Kate Kelly said she knew of no attacks that caused the most recent outages.
OMV Commissioner Dan Casey cited a need for a completely new system to replace the current mainframe.
'We are grateful for Governor Landry's support in modernizing our system,' Casey said in a statement. 'We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience these outages may have caused.'
In addition to inconveniencing drivers, the OMV shortcomings also impact law enforcement and other states that need to access motorist records.
The state of emergency will give the governor enhanced powers to quickly procure a new system for OMV without having to go through the normal oversight and public bidding process. Landry's order also suspends late fees for Class E driver's license renewals, the most common one issued in Louisiana. The emergency status also allows the governor to bypass the state's procurement rules to purchase a replacement mainframe as soon as possible.
The emergency remains in effect for 30 days, expiring on April 19, 2025.
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