Question: We were victimized twice by the Hawaii driver’s license data problem. Not only did the city and its contractor lose my daughter’s documents, they also did not notify her about this issue. So when she tried to renew her driving permit after waiting for two hours at the Hawaii Kai satellite city hall, she was told that she not only needed the documents, she also needed both parents to be there in person to sign the documents. We eventually got her permit renewed after a lot of pain and inconvenience. The city needs to get its act together and properly identify and notify the affected people. They also need to waive the requirement to have both parents sign driver permit renewal documents in person. It’s known that consent was provided with the original permit application, otherwise the original permit wouldn’t have been issued. Why place this additional burden on us due to their incompetence? What has Marquis ID Systems done to compensate the city for this issue beyond attempting to notify the affected people (and failing in my daughter’s case)? This is a deal breaker and they should be replaced.
Answer: Affected individuals should have received a letter in July informing them that files verifying their eligibility for a Hawaii state ID, driver’s license or learner’s permit could not be retrieved due to a computer failure in September.
The failure involved a multidisk server managed for the city by Marquis ID Systems, a subsidiary of the digital security company Gemalto, which is under contract with the city.
The failed server held scanned copies of documents Hawaii residents had used to apply for a state ID, driver’s license or permit between Feb. 25 and Sept. 15, 2017.
Although not everyone who applied during that period was affected, about 44,000 individuals statewide were, meaning that their stored documents could not be retrieved. Besides sending a letter to each person known to be affected, the vendor and city also broadly advised anyone who’d gotten a license, permit or state ID during that time period to bring their original documents when they renewed the credential or sought a Gold Star card, to be on the safe side.
The transaction fee is to be waived one time, courtesy of MIDS, for people whose documents could not be retrieved due to the server failure; that’s the only recompense of which we are aware. For more information, see 808ne.ws/midsfaq.
Sheri Kajiwara, director of the city’s Department of Customer Services, apologized for the situation. Here is her response to your complaint:
“The process to identify individuals affected by the Gemalto irretrievable data issue was not infallible. There may have been a few individuals missed, or a few on the list that were actually not affected. We had to balance the time it would take to perfect the list over the need to notify the majority affected. Unfortunately, the list is not perfect, and we sincerely apologize that a family was affected in this way. Early on, we attempted to inform people that if they had a transaction in 2017, it might be best to just bring their same documents again when they next return for business, just to be safe. We realize that this is most cumbersome for minors, who also need parental permission on file for a driving permit. Though it may not have helped in this situation, we do allow a parent to complete a notarized affidavit, which the minor can present in the absence of the parent(s).”
Mahalo
Mahalo to the gal who intervened when a small child got dangerously close to the curb at Punchbowl and Beretania. The dad was distracted, as we all seem to be these days. — Fellow pedestrian
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
