Guzman refutes newspaper report on delay in car-registration policy

By Marc Kovac

The former director said he didn’t cause the problem, but he was the one who fixed it.

COLUMBUS — The outgoing director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety is denying a newspaper report that he postponed a change in how vehicles are registered, allowing large numbers of undocumented workers to obtain license plates.

Henry Guzman, who called the charge also said policy changes were in the works for more than a year and played no role in his recently announced decision to retire.

“This problem existed before I got here over several administrations,” Guzman told The Vindicator. “I’m the one that addressed the problem. Did it take a year? Yes. Now we have a policy in place which is stronger than the original, and it meets all legal requirements.”

Guzman’s comments came in response to a Columbus Dispatch report over the weekend that thousands of individuals were able to register cars and get license plates even though they did not have valid Social Security numbers or car insurance.

The newspaper said Guzman delayed a crackdown on a loophole allowing the practice for more than a year after hearing from mostly Latino-owned car dealers, financing and insurance companies and others.

Not true, Guzman told The Vindicator late Monday. In fact, he said he was the one who pushed for a change in how vehicles are registered in the state.

The situation stems back to September 2007 with the enactment of a new law allowing the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to accept driver’s licenses or state-issued identification cards from individuals registering vehicles. Before then, vehicle owners had to provide Social Security numbers during that process.

On Jan. 1, a pregnant woman living in the country without proper documentation was killed in an automobile accident near Columbus. At that time, it was determined that a deputy registrar issued a vehicle registration without obtaining verifiable identification information from the owner.

The situation prompted a call from Guzman for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to implement procedures for verifying identification information provided by vehicle owners or their representatives. The latter include car dealers and others who often begin the process of registering vehicles on behalf of owners. There are about 12 million vehicles registered in the state.

A working group formed shortly thereafter to discuss the issue. An initial solution, to be implemented in August 2008, would have required copies of Social Security cards or other information in cases where registrars could not verify the identities of vehicle owners.

However, shortly before the new procedure was to be implemented, a group of auto dealers, insurance providers, financing offices and others came forward to voice reservations about the policy change. Registrars also asked a number of legal questions about the process. So Guzman agreed to a moratorium while those issues were dealt with and requested that his legal and BMV staff come up with recommendations for him to review and approve.

The process took close to a year to complete, partially because of other issues being addressed by the department — a redesigned driver’s license, state budget hearings, etc.

Guzman received the completed revised forms June 4. He reviewed the policy and signed off on them June 26. Copies were posted online in late July, and the new procedure was fully implemented as of Aug. 24.

That procedure involves requiring third-party registrants to provide proof of vehicle owners’ Social Security numbers in cases where the state cannot verify information based on their driver’s licenses or state identification cards.

The extra time was needed to work out legal issues and develop the best registration process for everyone involved — not to cater to the Latino community or any other special interests, Guzman said

“I think there was a mischaracterization of the facts here, and I want to make sure it gets out,” he said, citing The Dispatch article. He added, “I believe that the story is a one-sided story that I believe is an attempt to show me as the culprit. I’ll take responsibility as director; there was a delay. But the delay was not a malicious delay, and it was not a delay to cater to a specific group of the community just because I happen to be a Latino. ...

“My integrity has never been questioned, and it’s not going to be questioned now.”

mkovac@dixcom.com