Act Passed Tuesday, the Miami-Dade County Commissioner makes selling access to driver license offices or time slot appointments at other government agencies a misdemeanor. Violators can receive a $500 fine.
The law, sponsored by Commissioner Kevin Cabrera, stems from allegations from the county’s newly elected tax collector, Dariel Fernandez, who said he discovered a “network of female appointments” at his local DMV office last month. He denounced driving schools using the state’s online booking system to lock out dozens of bookings for customers who pay the school to get licenses.
“No one has to pay a third party just to access basic government services,” Cabrera said in a statement after the unanimous vote of approval.
Miami-Dade DMV locations are primarily operated by the state, but the county tax collector’s office is in the process of taking over them under changes mandated by state law. Most Florida counties already operate licensed offices, but changes to the state constitution that required Miami-Dade also require the office to take over the state’s DMV business as it selected an independent tax collector in November.
Fernandez said Tuesday that when his staff took over the DMV office they were inheriting the appointments made by the suspicious mester. Big cues: Many slots are not used when they arrive at booking. It’s probably when you think you’ll need an appointment made a few weeks in advance.
“We had 400 appointments, but only 200 people showed up,” Fernandez said of the DMV office, which is currently under his control.
Skulded appointments have been criticized for keeping the limited staff time in the DMV office, but the practice is not illegal. Cabrera’s law said Fernandez hopes the new protocol will end the bulk booking practice, but will change that.
Fernandez said he is also implementing new technology to prevent staff from making multiple appointments with the same phone number once they take over the office. As a result, he said he was forced to drop out of bookings.
