Gender X Driver's Licenses and State IDs (Department of Motor Vehicles)

Mackenzie Farkus
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 72168
411A Highland Avenue
Somerville, MA 02144-2516

Re: Public Records Act Request
PRA-19-104

Dear Ms. Farkus:

The California Department of Motor Vehicles acknowledges receipt of your facsimile dated and received on April 24, 2019, requesting the following records pursuant to the California Public Records Act (Government Code section 6250 et seq.).

1. "Emails containing the keywords "Gender X," "transgender," "intersex," "Two-Spirit," "gender identity," and "sexual identification" from the first issuance date of Gender X driver's licenses and state IDs"

2. "Marketing materials such as brochures, pamphlets, cards, etc."

3. "Any policy directives, guidance documents, memorandum, training materials, or similar records"

4. "Revenue made off of Gender X driver's licenses and state IDs, and/or the total number of people with Gender X driver's licenses and state IDs"

The Department has determined that there are records responsive to your requests in items #2 and #3. California Government Code Section 6253, subdivision (b), provides that the state agency make the identifiable public records available "upon payment of fees covering the direct costs of duplication, or a statutory fee, if applicable." California Vehicle Code section 1811 allows the Department of Motor Vehicles to charge "at least the entire actual cost to the department of the copies." (See also Shippen v. DMV (1984) 161 Cal.App.3d 1119.)

The Department will mail the records requested in items #2 and #3 upon receipt of a check in the amount of eighty-six dollars and fourteen cents ($86.14) payable to the DMV for the statutory fee, which shall be mailed to:

Department of Motor Vehicles
Legal Affairs Division, C-128
P.O. Box 932382
Sacramento, CA 94232-3820
Attention: MICHAEL RAND

With respect to item #1, the Department estimates your request will cost in excess of several thousand dollars to complete, which will require significant staff time to query, monitor, and export data from the Department's entire database. The Department will require payment of the estimated costs for any programming, computer run time, and estimated record output in order to begin processing your request. (Government Code section 6100.) The final cost would be unknown until the programming and extraction is completed, and the total fee for the records would be required to be paid prior to the release of the documents. For reference, a previous record request of this nature had an estimated cost in excess of $3,000. Please let us know if you would like to proceed.

With respect to item #4, the Department does not have an identifiable document responsive to your request. The Department may be able to comply with this request by extracting data by what is called a "file pass" of the current driver license database of approximately 24 million records. A "file pass" consists of writing a special software program at a cost of approximately $200 per hour. In addition, the Department is charged a fee of approximately $625 per hour to run the program with an estimated time of approximately ten hours necessary to search the entire driver license database. The Department requires an initial deposit for programming, computer run time, and estimated record output in order to begin processing a file pass. (Government Code section 6100.) The total cost is unknown at this time, as the total number of records responsive to your request would be unknown until the file pass is complete. The total fee for the records would be required to be paid prior to production of the documents. (California Code of Regulations, Title 13, Section 350.44(c), Government Code Sections 6253, subdivision (b), and 6253.9, subdivision (b)(2).) The Department estimates this request will cost in excess of several thousand dollars to complete. Please let us know if you would like to proceed.

In the alternative, please note that the Department has issued 1,398 DL/ID cards with the non-binary status as of April 18, 2019. This number does not include pending applications. In addition, there is a difference in fees between card type (DL or ID) and application type (original/renewal vs. a duplicate or correction). As a result, the Department is unable to effectively calculate the generated fees without performing a file pass as described above.

Finally, the California Public Records Act exempts from disclosure records considered preliminary drafts (Government Code section 6254(a)) or that discuss "computer software" information, including computer mapping systems, computer programs, and computer graphics systems (Government Code section 6254.9); and/or contain information that will jeopardize or compromise the security or integrity of any proprietary software or will reveal vulnerabilities to, or otherwise increase the potential for an attack on, an information technology system of a public agency. (Government Code sections 6253.9(f) and 6254.19.)

If the Department does not receive payment for the records requested in items #2 and #3 (or instructions on how you would like to proceed) within thirty (30) days, we will be closing our file in this matter and the copies of the records will be purged.

Sincerely,

Michael Rand, Attorney
Department of Motor Vehicles
Legal Affairs Division
Tel: (916) 657-6469
Fax: (916) 657-6243

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.

Hello Mackenzie,

The $86.14 fee is for digital copies to be sent via e-mail. You can mail payment to:

Department of Motor Vehicles
Legal Affairs Division, C-128
P.O. Box 932382
Sacramento, CA 94232-3820
Attention: MICHAEL RAND

Regards,

Michael Rand, Attorney
Department of Motor Vehicles
Legal Affairs Division
Tel: (916) 657-6469
Fax: (916) 657-6243

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This communication with its contents may contain confidential and/or legally privileged information. It is solely for the use of the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized interception, review, use or disclosure is prohibited and may violate applicable laws including the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of the communication.