Due to persistent intermittent system outages affecting the Louisiana Office of Motor Vehicles, Governor Jeff Landry has issued an executive order extending the expiration date and waiving the delinquent fees of Class E driver’s licenses for up to 30 days past the expiration date on the license.
The extension will not be recognized by federal agencies, such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and law enforcement in other states. If residents plan to travel outside of Louisiana they will need to have a valid, unexpired, driver’s license or other acceptable form of identification, such as a passport to board commercial flights.
Residents may renew their driver’s license up to 180 days prior to expiration at an OMV field office or Public Tag Agent location. Eligible residents can renew their driver’s license or identification card online, at www.expresslane.org/renewdl [expresslane.org], on the LA Wallet app, or by mail up to 90 days prior to expiration.
For the last several weeks OMV’s system has been experiencing frequent outages due to its 50-year-old COBOL mainframe applications. The Office of Technology Services (OTS) and Unisys are actively investigating these outages to restore stability to the system but have not been able to identify the issue.
“We are grateful for Governor Landry’s support in modernizing our system. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience these outages may have caused,” stated OMV Commissioner Dan Casey.
OMV has been working with Governor Landry, his administration, state legislators, OTS, and industry leaders, to acquire and implement a new, modern driver and vehicle system that adequately serves the residents of Louisiana.
“We are close to finalizing a solution that will enhance efficiency and service quality. We appreciate your patience and will continue to provide updates as we move forward,” Commissioner Casey said.
