Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday announced additional steps to take pressure off the overburdened Motor Vehicle Commission, including by once again extending deadlines and expiration dates.

Since MVC offices reopened Tuesday, the locations have become more crowded and chaotic, with fights breaking out and people camping overnight on line. Criticism of the MVC and the governor has been building from lawmakers and public.

All standard driver’s licenses, permits, IDs, vehicle registrations, inspections and temporary tags that expired between March 13 and May 31 have now been extended until Sept. 30.

Drivers with licenses, permits, registrations, inspection stickers and temporary tags expiring between June 1 and Aug. 31 have been extended until the end of the year, Dec. 31.

Murphy also announced that the MVC, based on an overnight capacity assessment, will establish a number of total customers each office can serve. Tickets will be given out up to that number and the remaining customers will be asked to come back another day.

Murphy said new drivers will be given preference at Licensing Centers. Already licensed drivers who will be able to drive under the new extensions will be served after all new drivers have been served.

As an additional safety measure, Murphy said people will not be allowed to line up on MVC property after capacity is reached until the next morning at 7 a.m.

Meanwhile, New Jersey 101.5 News requested an interview with MVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton, but for the third day in a row, we were told she was extremely busy and not available.

Assembly Republican Leader Jon Bramnick, R-Union, who has been asking the MVC to discuss reopening plans for several weeks but never got a response, expressed anger and disappointment when MVC offices were mobbed on Tuesday, and a day later on Wednesday he called for license and registration extensions to be instituted.

“I’m happy that finally Gov. Murphy reacted. I’m very sad what people had to go through, and this was just so unfortunate. It was just incompetence,” he said.

He stressed instead of making decisions in a vacuum, the governor needs to have more communication because the MVC debacle should have never happened in the first place.

Bramnick said Murphy should consult others when he’s making decisions instead of going into seclusion and then making decisions without any input.

“How about if he talked to prior governors? I told him to talk to Christie, McGreevey, Corzine, Codey, DiFrancesco,” he said. “He’s never called one of them, as far as I know.”

He said the MVC disaster didn’t have to take place.

“It’s a pretty sad state of affairs that it takes three months and a week to do what I think government should have done before they opened," Bramnick said. "You can’t be isolated like that. That’s why MVC was a disaster.”

MUST SEE: Day 3 of Lines at MVC Offices

You can contact reporter David Matthau at David.Matthau@townsquaremedia.com

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