NEW HAVEN - Connecticut’s Democratic nominee for governor Ned Lamont, calls the state Department of Motor Vehicles a backwards agency and said he has a plan.
At Lamont’s campaign headquarters, in New Haven, he rolled out his eight point plan that he insists will transform the DMV, while paying for itself.
Lamont said when people look at the Connecticut DMV, it is a proxy for government inefficiency.
"Bad customer service, not getting things done in a timely cost-effective way," he said.
He said there is a lot he can do immediately upon being elected as governor.
"Make it easier. You won’t have to register your vehicle or redo your license quite as frequently," he said. "That would save a lot of time."
And some money.
He also pointed out that in some other states, drivers can renew their license online, including the ability to submit their own photo.
"In fact, your license is digitally held in your iPhone or your Samsung," Lamont said.
He would like to do more of what West Haven has done: setting up a DMV office in City Hall.
"Why don’t we find 20 located town halls and we can have a part-time office there for those rare times you actually have to go in or maybe there's somebody that just likes a face-to-face contact," said Lamont.
Lamont's opponent in this year's gubernatorial election, republican Bob Stefanowski, said the real answer, with regard to the DMV, is privatization.
"If there are any companies that are doing this, that are doing this in a very expedited, good way, I’d like to know it," said Lamont. "Otherwise, it’s just an ideological throwaway."
He said the necessary upgrade to the IT capabilities across all state agencies, could take a couple of years
"They have a 40-year-old main frame," said Lamont. "They have different legacy systems that don’t talk to each other."
Stefanowski's campaign calls Lamont's plan more of the same as the Malloy Administration.
FOX61 reached out to the DMV for their reaction to Lamont's assertions and they have yet to respond.