As another MVC agency shuts down, legislators try to bring relief to drivers facing deadlines
Updated Jan 25, 2021;
As state Motor Vehicle Commission officials shut down the Paterson agency late Sunday night due to an employee testing positive for the coronavirus, legislators are moving a bill to extend some dates that driver and vehicle documents expire.
The Paterson Licensing and Regional Service Center will remain closed for sanitizing, contact tracing and quarantining until Feb. 5.
This closure blunts the impact of reopening two agencies Monday in North Bergen and Lodi. Drivers who lost appointments due to agency shutdowns complained they are running up against dates their documents expire for in-person transactions.
More than half a dozen New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission agency locations are closed through at least the beginning of next week due to positive coronavirus tests.
These closures represent just a fraction of the agency s shutdowns of individual locations over the past several months, as it attempts to continue serving the public during a global pandemic.
When a full-time employee who s been at the office tests positive for the virus, the agency shuts it down typically for two weeks since the employee s last day on the job.
So since reopening to the public in early July, the MVC has had to stop operations at agencies about 60 times times due to COVID-19, according to data provided to New Jersey 101.5.