FY 26 DC DMV Budget Oversight Hearing before the Committee on Transportation and the Environment

Government of the District of Columbia
Department of Motor Vehicles

Fiscal Year 2026 Budget Oversight Hearing

Testimony of Gabriel Robinson, Director
Department of Motor Vehicles

Before the Committee on Transportation and the Environment
Charles Allen, Chairman
Council of the District of Columbia

Monday, June 16, 2025

Good afternoon, Chairperson Allen, members of the Committee and Committee staff. I am Gabriel Robinson, Director of the DC Department of Motor Vehicles (DC DMV). On behalf of Mayor Muriel Bowser, I would like to thank our customers, Chairperson Allen, this Committee and the rest of the Council for their support. I also want to congratulate the Mayor and her Administration for their extraordinary leadership and continued efforts to revitalize the District. I want to extend a special thank you to all my colleagues at DC DMV for their exceptional dedication and hard work. Team DMV continues to provide outstanding customer service to District residents. As I often say, we are truly saving lives every day.

I am pleased to provide testimony on Mayor Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 26) proposed budget, “Grow DC”. With this budget, Mayor Bowser is continuing to strategically invest in District residents by generating new economic activity, creating new jobs and increasing revenue to support city services and programs, including those at DC DMV despite projected revenue shortfalls.

The Mayor’s FY 26 proposed budget supports DMV’s mission to promote the safe operation of motor vehicles and public safety while providing outstanding customer service. Annually, DC DMV serves approximately 650,000 licensed drivers and identification card holders in the District and 310,000 registered vehicle owners. Each year, we collect ticket payments for more than four million tickets. We interact with District residents and non-residents, with an average of 3,200 daily customer contacts—more than almost any other District government agency. In FY 25 to date, we have met the needs of more than 180,000 customers across our four service center locations. The agency has also processed and mailed products generated from more than 207,000 online transactions.

Additionally, we have conducted nearly 272,000 in-person, online and mail hearings and over 11,000 virtual hearings. In FY 25, we inspected more than 97,000 vehicles including approximately 9,500 inspections conducted at our self-service OBD emissions kiosk at the Takoma Recreation Center and more than 1,000 at Fort Stanton. We’ve titled and registered 37,110 vehicles to date this fiscal year and issued 75,489 identity credentials including driver licenses and non-driver IDs.

Let me now briefly describe DC DMV’s proposed budget and projects for the coming fiscal year:

DMV’s FY 26 proposed operating budget is $70,784,623, which represents a 2.2 percent decrease from the FY 25 approved operating budget of $72,384,773. The proposed budget is comprised of $62,390,000 in local funds and $8,394,000 in Special Purpose Revenue (SPR) funds. DMV’s FY 26 Capital Budget of $12,860,000 is allocated to continued modernization efforts underway for our licensing and registration system known as DESTINY and our ticketing system known as eTIMS.

The FY 26 budget proposed by the Mayor invests or impacts the following DMV programs:

• A funding shift for multiple contractual services from SPR to Local in the amount of $2.3 million in the face of a decreasing revenue forecast.
• An increase to the local funds budget of $1.3 million across divisions to align salaries and Fringe Benefits with projected costs.
• A one-time increase of $317,792 to support inspection station consultants and $84,057 for vehicle services tags.
• An additional $9.5M in Capital funding for the Destiny Modernization Project, which has a tentative release date of July 2027.
• Investment of $3.36M in Capital funding for the limited modernization of the ticket processing and adjudication system, also known as eTIMS.

I would also like to take a few moments to highlight some of the agency’s FY 25 strategic goals and accomplishments, many of which will continue into FY26:

• DC DMV joined 41 other US jurisdictions in the State-to-State (S2S) verification program to electronically check with all other participating states to see if an individual currently holds a driver license or identification card in another state. S2S also enables a state to request another state to surrender or invalidate a credential. By participating in the S2S program, DC DMV now has access to the nationwide Driver History Record (DHR) functionality, which supports the concept of one driver, one credential and one driver history record in one state. The implementation of S2S has also led to an increase in driver history accuracy and completeness, which ultimately supports DC DMV's mission to promote the safe operation of motor vehicles and public safety in the District of Columbia.
• DC DMV had a 99.9 percent Real ID compliance rate across all active driver licenses and identification at the start of the Federal Department of Homeland Security enforcement date on May 7, 2025. This compliance rate is one of the highest in the nation.
• To enhance ticket information and alerts for the public, DC DMV developed a communications outreach strategy aimed at increasing awareness of and enrollment in the Ticket Alert Service (TAS) by 10 percent by May 2025. At the start of FY 25, TAS enrollment stood at 116,500 accounts. A 10 percent increase set our target at 128,150 accounts. At the end of May 2025, TAS enrollment reached 128,271, meaning we met our goal.
• In FY 25 DC DMV added two new plates to its specialty vehicle tag offerings: “We Demand Statehood” and “Pride Lives Here.” The “We Demand Statehood” tag features recognizable DC icons such as Cherry Blossom flowers and the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge incorporated into a bold new design. The tag supports the fight for District residents’ right to voting representation. The new “Pride” plate came as 2025 marked the 50th anniversary of LGBTQIA+ Pride celebrations and as DC served as the host for World Pride. The tag features the emblematic LGBTQIA+ rainbow as a ribbon, accompanied by the declaration that “Pride Lives Here.”
• DC DMV continues to make improvements and additions to the agency’s free mobile app which allows you to conduct select DMV transactions from anywhere using a mobile device. We are seeing increased usage of the app, with over 128,000 unique downloads and over 4,400 average monthly users this fiscal year. Customers completed roughly 40,750 transactions from their smart devices in FY 25 to date. We continue to encourage the public to use DC DMV’s app with messaging through our #SkipTheTrip campaign. The mobile app is free and can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store by searching DC DMV.
• DC DMV is working closely with the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO) for the much-needed IT infrastructure and telecommunication upgrades for DC DMV’s headquarters located at 95 M Street SW, which serves as the nucleus for all DC DMV IT functions. The upgrades include refreshing servers, switches, fiber optic cabling and comprehensive foundational enhancements to ensure the continuity of all of DC DMV’s operations across all locations.
• In FY 26, DC DMV will continue to produce marketing materials to support the Ignition Interlock Device (IID) Program, which has produced over five million impressions or potential views by reach, across social media to date with the “It Could Cost More Than You Think” campaign. DC DMV is proud to support the Vision Zero principles associated with safe driving and foster safer streets for all roadway users. We remain committed to enhancing public awareness and enforcing compliance with DC Code regulations through continued collaboration with our DC Government agency partners and external media partners.
• DC DMV has drafted the Proposed Rulemaking for the Intelligent Speed Assist Program, a device installed in vehicles that will actively engage to ensure compliance with local speed limits in alignment with the STEER Act. The rules identify the requirements for enrollment, potential violations and provider qualifications. DC DMV has hired the Program Analyst and hopes to have the first participants enrolled by October 1, 2025.
• DC DMV plans to fully implement the no tickets for stolen vehicles and plates provisions of the STEER Act by July 30, 2025. Working with our ticketing processing vendor, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) and the DC Department of Public Works (DPW), we have programmed eTIMS, the ticket processing system, to automatically dismiss tickets to stolen vehicles and tags once we are notified by MPD.

In closing, the resources allocated to DC DMV will play a critical role in helping the agency to continue to provide outstanding service to District residents and all DC DMV customers. The Council and this Committee are critical allies in this effort and we appreciate your collaboration to ensure we operate efficiently and effectively. We look forward to working together to “Grow DC” this next fiscal year and beyond. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. I look forward to answering any questions you may have.