Judge Blocks New Driver’s Licenses

Plans to start issuing new high-security driver’s licenses in California were put on hold this week by a Superior Court judge.

The new licenses, designed to prevent counterfeiting and other abuses, were due out July 22 under a disputed $24-million contract that is clouded by allegations of conflict of interest.

The department has touted its new driver’s license as a leap forward for consumers and police, and a big step back for criminals.

For example:

* The DMV intends to speed up delivery of licenses from up to three weeks to within three or four days.

* Photos of applicants will be available around the clock to police within 24 to 36 hours after the picture is taken. Currently, the delay is 10 to 14 days.

* A special digital image printing process will make it virtually impossible for counterfeiters, underage drinkers and others to copy the licenses.

* The new process is designed to block someone from taking and passing the written and driving tests for someone else who cannot get a passing grade.

Under pressure to reduce costs, improve efficiency, better serve police and make the California driver’s license more secure, the DMV called for bids in May 1994 for a state-of-the-art driver’s license.

Adding a note of urgency to the process was the concern that the driver’s license was being abused as a photo identification card for illegal purposes ranging from passing bad checks to establishing California residency for illegal immigrants.

In issuing a temporary restraining order Tuesday, Judge John R. Lewis ordered the DMV to stop work on making the conversion and to appear in court July 16 to argue why the ruling should not be made permanent.

DMV spokesman Bill Gengler said employees involved in preparing the switch to the new licenses were told to cease their work.

As a result, California drivers will continue to be issued licenses without the high-security features, he said. Visually, the current and proposed new licenses are very similar, he said.

Polaroid Corp., which last year won the contract to produce the new licenses and has invested about $7.4 million in the project so far, estimated that 95% of the preparatory work has been completed.

Tuesday’s court order, the second against the department in recent weeks, was sought by NBS Imaging Systems, an unsuccessful bidder for the project and the company that has made California driver’s licenses for 34 years.

The DMV contract required development of a series of high-tech secret features that would ensure the new licenses would be nearly impossible to duplicate or tamper with.

Among other things, the conversion involves adding electronic communication lines to far-flung field offices so that license photos and information can be transmitted and retrieved the same day. “This timeliness of photo [updating] and availability could dramatically assist law enforcement in missing persons situations, suspected kidnappings or other suspected criminal activities,” Anthony Walker, manager of DMV’s system development office, recently said in a court document.

The new system also will give police direct and around-the-clock access to driver’s license data, instead of having to rely on the DMV. This will enable police to move faster, Walker said.

Other changes include imprinting driving restrictions--such as limiting a motorist to driving only to and from work--on the license. Currently, restrictions are listed on a sticky label that can be removed.

The contract for the new license project was won by the Polaroid Corp. in April 1995. It was challenged six months later by NBS Imaging Systems.

NBS had sued earlier over the bidding and had pursued its challenge of the contract through state administrative procedures. It lost at each step.

But it won a legal round in May when a Sacramento Superior Court judge agreed with NBS in a third lawsuit that one of Polaroid’s subcontractors, Computer Deductions Inc., had a conflict of interest.

NBS attorneys Michael and Tiffany Franchetti contended that employees of Computer Deductions had improperly given advice on specifications for the DMV project, a charge denied by Polaroid. At the time, Computer Deductions was a DMV consultant trying to figure out what to do with hardware from an earlier $55-million botched computer project.

Superior Court Judge Cecily Bond ruled that the contract was illegal because of a conflict of interest by Computer Deductions. She ordered the project stopped, but the DMV continued with preparatory work.

NBS returned to court last month and Bond reaffirmed her decision.

The DMV appealed her ruling to the state District Court of Appeal, a procedure which suspended Bond’s order. NBS returned to Superior Court and asked Lewis for the temporary restraining order.