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It’s a good idea to make sure you have your driver’s license on your annual trip to the treasurer’s office to renew your vehicle registration.

County treasurers are making that suggestion based on an effort from the state Division of Motor Vehicles to streamline record keeping of people and businesses owning vehicles.

“I do know that what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to get one unique identifying number for each individual,” Debbie Pack, director of revenue/treasury in Wyandotte County, said as to why the driver’s licenses will be needed when renewing vehicle registrations.

The state is trying to modernize its vehicle records to follow federal guidelines linked to recommendations from the 9-11 Commission. The Division of Motor Vehicles is also updating its computer system.

Essentially in Kansas, the state is asking every person and agency involved in the process of vehicle purchases and registrations to be on the same page. The key is to ensure the legal name of the vehicle’s owner – a person or a business – is listed on the title.

For individuals, counties are asking to check the registration titles match the owner’s name on a driver’s license or identification card – a complete legal name with no nicknames included. For businesses, titles should match a businesses’ documentation in a federal directory.

Pack said the problem with the current system was vehicle owners might give a different name when renewing their registration – such as a nickname or shortened version of their legal name – or be residing in a different address from the one where they originally registered, resulting in more than one record. Especially difficult in these situations is the task of matching drivers with more than one vehicle to all the vehicles they own, she said. Creating one identifying number, such as the one found on a driver’s license card, would mitigate this problem a great deal.

“It’s a much more efficient process, instead of having to search for other identifying factors,” Pack said.

Douglas County Treasurer Paula Gilchrist said the federal push for consistency in vehicle records also stems from concerns about states being able to share information with one another in multiple-state criminal investigations involving suspected terrorists or kidnappings that require an Amber Alert.

“We are not going to be taking personal information in our office,” Gilchrist said. “But we do want to have some sort of information where we can specifically identify an individual who may be crossing state lines in a criminal case.”

Though no actual regulation regarding the presentation of driver’s licenses at vehicle registration renewals has been passed at the state or federal level, this push for modernizing the record-keeping process suggests such a thing might be in the future. Pack said, however, there was no ordinance in effect right now in Wyandotte County because of at least one crucial problem.

“I don’t think we’ve made any rulings or anything like that here, as far as requirements,” Pack said. “Because we recognize that some people don’t have driver’s licenses.”

— Melissa Treolo contributed to this story.

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