Committee backs optional digital driver’s license bill after cost and ADA questions

Representative Curbs asked the committee to give House Bill 3015 a favorable report, telling members the measure would allow Oklahomans the option to add their driver’s license to a smartphone wallet and for the state to accept that credential.

"This is allowing us as a state ... to be able to add your driver's license to your wallet, like your digital wallet on your Apple phone or your Android phones," Representative Curbs said, adding the credential would be optional.

Representative Fugate pressed the sponsor on the bill's differences from an earlier 2019 effort that used a private vendor. "We had $25,000,000 we wound up spending with IDEMIA Corporation," Fugate said, noting problems that followed the earlier rollout and saying the prior app was pulled partly for ADA compliance issues. Fugate asked why new legislation is needed now when a platform was available previously.

Curbs said the prior effort was a test platform and that recent work produces a more "robust and user friendly" system. He said the current approach envisions direct work with the major mobile-wallet platforms. "We are working directly with the Apple and Google on their platforms," Curbs said.

After brief questions about whether third-party integrators would be used, the committee voted 10-0 to report HB 3015 as passed out of committee.

What happens next: The committee reported the bill with a recommendation to pass; any further changes or fiscal analysis would occur in later stages of the process.