Louisiana's OMV struggles due to outdated COBOL system

Louisiana's Office of Motor Vehicles (OMV) experienced an outage on March 20, prompting Governor Jeff Landry to declare a State of Emergency. The governor's order extends the expiration date and late fees on Class E driver’s licenses for up to 30 days after they expire. The outage was linked to the COBOL mainframe, which is underlying technology for the OMV’s systems. The Louisiana Office of Technology Services is currently investigating these frequent outages that have led to long wait times and security issues for residents. COBOL, which stands for Common Business-Oriented Language, is a programming language over 50 years old. It was originally developed to help businesses process data. Many organizations, including government agencies like Louisiana's OMV, still rely on COBOL for important operations. Gov. Landry highlighted the need to modernize the OMV's system, as it handles functions like issuing driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations. Louisiana residents will need to update to REAL ID by May 7 to fly domestically or access secure federal facilities. The OMV is offering special hours on March 22 to assist residents with these updates.