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Nevada DMV and the Spirit of Transparency

Response About Recent Public Records Request

CARSON CITY – The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) received a public records request from Arthur Kane of the Las Vegas Review-Journal on January 16, and a subsequent article was published on March 20 that stated that the DMV is no longer releasing public records. This request sought access to personal identifying information (PII) for all Nevada driver’s license and ID holders. After careful review, the DMV denied the request in order to protect citizens’ privacy and uphold data security standards.

“While the article poses the question, 'What is the DMV hiding?' the agency would like to set the record straight,” said Deputy Director Angela Smith-Lamb. “The DMV is not hiding anything, but we are protecting a lot, and we believe it is for good reason.”

Over the past year, the agency released 99% of records requested, with less than 1% of requests being denied. The agency has been a good partner in transparency, releasing all records we are able to under the law, with the bulk of those requests directly tied to driver, vehicle and road safety.

Since the appointment of the current director, Tonya Laney, the agency released significant number of records, specifically provided to the Las Vegas Review Journal. However, given the scope of their most recent request, the DMV determined that it would expose every Nevadan to unacceptable security risks, such as data interception, redistribution, or other compromises.

DMV Director Tonya Laney’s Statement:
“We take the data security of Nevada citizens very seriously. As we do with any requests that come to our agency requesting data that involves Personal Identifying Information, we review the law, and where it is at the discretion of the agency to release or not, we weigh the pros and cons based on the security risk imposed of a possible redistribution, interception or other compromise of that data. In this case, the request was at our discretion, and thanks to a heavy awareness of security, and in consultation with our extremely knowledgeable data security team within our agency, we ultimately determined that any journalistic material that could be prepared does not outweigh the integrity of our agency to protect our citizens that hold identification or driver licenses in the state of Nevada.”

The DMV is committed to maintaining the integrity of records containing PII. While the agency continues to provide public records that support safer vehicles and drivers on Nevada’s roads, the protection of personal identities entrusted to the DMV remains top priority.

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