Harris County Applicants

[Strick]

Day 119... DPS is still waiting on response from Harris County...

The problem as I can see it from all the responses I have gotten from DPS is simply that I am not compassionate enough of poor Harris County that has had to deal with the burden of a 'record increase' in applications. It goes amazingly silent when you talk about the proportional increase in fees received.

Statutes, what statutes? They don't apply if the government doesn't want them to - after all, who is going to do anything about it? Certainly not Senator Patrick or Rep Fletcher's offices. They have explained to me quite clearly that there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. They pass on my message to DPS and DPS ignores it just as they do my inquiries.

Ok... rant over. Time for a beer.

The part that is even more frustrating is that there are people that got "in line" after me get processed first. That is just one more thing that is chapping me about the whole deal. There is no rhyme or reason to the incompetence.

[Jo*]

Wow I feel You all. I have been waiting and waiting And when I call DPS I get. " Your background check is being processed by Galviston county and Harris county. There is nothing we can do." So as the days tick by I chew at my fingernails waiting expectantly to get a call or recieved a little piece of plastic that gives me a right I should already have as stated in the 2nd admendment. Meanwhile the state chows down on the money I have sent along with the bunch of other CHL hopefuls. What do they do with all that money anyway? Can they use it to speed up the process? I know retorical question. Makes me wonder why I get the joy of having to have my background check bogged down in two different counties. All DPS can tell me is because of where I live. I suppose eventually I will get that bit of plastic. Just hope I don't get mugged or anything while walking to my vehicle late at night from work in that ill lit parking lot. Think I will contact my state rep now.. My patience is wearing thin.

Still waiting
Jo

Class taken: 12/15/08
App mailed: 12/19/08
Check cashed: 12/23/08
Resent DD214: 2/03/09
app completed: xx/xx/09 ( Still waiting) I call DPS daily and they tell me it is in Print now as of 8/05/09. I am extremely frustrated.
Plastic in hand: xx/xx/09

[Keith B]

Hi Jo*. Welcome to the forum. While waiting practice carrying around the house, read the forum and learn all you can. Your day will come, I know just not soon enough for the anticipation.

We look forward to hearing more from you and hope the plastic arrives in a timely manner.

[Steve]

Wow I feel You all. I have been waiting and waiting And when I call DPS I get. " Your background check is being processed by Galviston county and Harris county. There is nothing we can do." So as the days tick by I chew at my fingernails waiting expectantly to get a call or recieved a little piece of plastic that gives me a right I should already have as stated in the 2nd admendment. Meanwhile the state chows down on the money I have sent along with the bunch of other CHL hopefuls. What do they do with all that money anyway? Can they use it to speed up the process? I know retorical question. Makes me wonder why I get the joy of having to have my background check bogged down in two different counties. All DPS can tell me is because of where I live. I suppose eventually I will get that bit of plastic. Just hope I don't get mugged or anything while walking to my vehicle late at night from work in that ill lit parking lot. Think I will contact my state rep now.. My patience is wearing thin.

Still waiting
Jo

Class taken: 12/15/08
App mailed: 12/19/08
Check cashed: 12/23/08
Resent DD214: 2/19/09
app completed: xx/xx/09
Plastic in hand: xx/xx/09

Wow. You have been waiting since Dec. I can't complain anymore.... Hope you get it soon.

[Chip]

Despite not having lived in Harris County for more than six years, I am reluctantly joining the ranks of the folks waiting on the nimrods there to do a background check.... because I work in Harris County.

[Rigger 609]

Is there anyone that we can contact in Harris County to find out why there are taking so long to honor the State law? Why do we need to wait longer than any other county in the state?
I also hear that they run the back ground check through Galveston County . WHY?
I guess I'm just tired of everyone passing the buck. It's not DPS's fault they are waiting on Harris County to get something done. Or based on the volume it is taking longer, the best was because of a hurricane that rolled through 8 months ago.

I've held Security clearances that haven't taken this long, and I have been moved all over the country.

Ok I'm ready to get off the soap box now.
Who's next

[BriN]

Day 127... no issues with paperwork...

Called DPS and they are still waiting on the Harris County background check. I asked if anyone there could give me some sort of realistic expectation for when it might be finished considering Harris County has had it for nearly 15 weeks now. I asked if someone could tell me what the backlog still looks like for applications received by DPS in early February and recieved by Harris County in early March. The rep's answer... "no, there is no one here that can provide that information... they come in every day and it will get here when it gets here".

2 messages to Heather Brummet in the past two weeks...nothing in return. 3 messages to Jan Coffey in the past week... nothing in return.

This really is a joke...

[ForTehNguyen]

Last year it took 7 months for my CHL from June 08 to Jan 08. Obviously Ike happened during this time and caused all kinds of delays as the city was busy with a lot of other crap. Harris County receives a huge brunt of all CHL applicants on a per county basis. According to 2008 CHL DPS stats it issued 15% of all Texas 2008 CHLs which was about 11k. Dallas county is #2 with 5500 issues.

Sucky thing is CHL applicants across Texas are even bigger than last year. I think I read somewhere there was 48k applicants in 2008, now there are are 62k applicants just from Jan - May 09. Not sure how this will play out for the BG check wait.

[dicion]

As I've stated in the April thread, I'm considering filing for a hearing on day 91.

The law states that if DPS has not issued, denied, or sent you a letter saying that it will take additional time, with a reason, and an estimated completion time, then on day 90, you are officially denied.
The law allows up to 180 days to process the background check, that is true, but only under the condition that they send you the above mentioned letter.

Once you are officially denied, you can file for a hearing on your denial, and get it taken to a judge, who has the authority, if DPS cannot prove a reason to not issue, within the constraints of law, to tell them to immediately issue your CHL.

I'm not at day 91 yet, but it might be something for people that are already there to think about.

[Shorts]

As I've stated in the April thread, I'm considering filing for a hearing on day 91.

The law states that if DPS has not issued, denied, or sent you a letter saying that it will take additional time, with a reason, and an estimated completion time, then on day 90, you are officially denied.
The law allows up to 180 days to process the background check, that is true, but only under the condition that they send you the above mentioned letter.

Once you are officially denied, you can file for a hearing on your denial, and get it taken to a judge, who has the authority, if DPS cannot prove a reason to not issue, within the constraints of law, to tell them to immediately issue your CHL.

I'm not at day 91 yet, but it might be something for people that are already there to think about.

A hearing? That's interesting. Has anyone ever done one? (precedents?) What were the results?

[nitrogen]

i've been telling people to do this for months; it'll be interesting to hear if it works or not.

[dicion]

I don't know, thats why I think it's worth trying. I know people have done them for suspensions and such, but I have not heard of anyone requesting one for this specific reason.

I'm thinking of writing up a form letter requesting the hearing. I could spend some time and draft a very good letter, complete with references and everything, for anyone who is 90+ days to mail to the DPS if they wanted to.

The one thing that is contingent on this, you have to have documented proof of when your packet was delivered. Without it, you cannot 'prove' 90 days.

I'd also be interested in Charles' opinion on this course of action.

[DrinkRaiderade]

If you rattle their cage hard enough (by requesting a hearing) I will put money on them issuing the license before the hearing date is scheduled...ie, it will never make it to a hearing...

[optman09]

still waiting..... 148 days since DPS received and 103 days since it began processing again after picture retakes. Can't wait until .gov runs my healthcare (insert sarcastic tone)

[dicion]

If you rattle their cage hard enough (by requesting a hearing) I will put money on them issuing the license before the hearing date is scheduled...ie, it will never make it to a hearing...

True, however, If enough people rattle the cage enough, it may prompt them to take action to fix the problem.

My point I'm trying to make is simple. They expect us to follow the laws. Why should we expect less from them?

Do DPS officers say "Oh, well that's okay then!"and let you go when they pull you over for speeding, if you tell them "I'm running behind scheduele"?
Absolutely not. They'll say that you should have left earlier, and issue you a ticket.
The same way I'm saying that they need to fix the problem that's causing the delay.

Being late, or behind scheduele is no excuse to break laws. Be it a citizen breaking them, or a government agency.

Can they switch to a procedure that has them issue the license before the county background checks come back? And then suspend of revoke it if they find something at a later date?
I believe the current laws DO allow such a system within their existing confines, in fact, I believe that is the way they were designed to be interpreted. It makes sense if you see that the Department is Required to issue/deny in 90 days, but the BG checks can take up to 180 days to come back. How else would those two sections logically exist together, unless they were not meant to be mutually inclusive.
It is specifically written into the law that the DPS can suspend or revoke a license if any evidence comes to light that identifies the person as someone who cannot possess one, even after it has been issued.