Permit Back Log

[Morgan]

couple people on Texaschlforum.com in the Houston area have gotten their licenses recently. Harris county seems to be the problem, not DPS. So anyone you see getting theirs ahead of you would probably be from non-Harris county. I guess Harris has ONE officer who does ALL of the background checks. And if she's out, or if she's pulled to do other duty... she's not doing them.

 

[40Arpent]

I am officially frustrated. I've seen two people on these posts who applied in early August like me and they have been issued their license. I sent an email to my state rep and no response. Any ideas guys and girls?

Asking your state rep for help is a complete waste of time. Have you called DPS directly to ask them about it?

 

[DILLON1980]

Asking your state rep for help is a complete waste of time. Have you called DPS directly to ask them about it?

You are absolutely correct about calling my state rep. His office is overwhelmed with people like me calling to complain about the same thing. I've called the CHL bureau and they quote me the law so much that I can probably teach it on a college campus. Is there another arm of the DPS you recommend that I call. I think I've gotten to the point that many others on this post have gotten to. I don't even want to check the mail anymore. By the time I get it , I'd have forgotten that I applied.

 

[Morgan]

hm. I hate to sound like a broken record, but over on the txchlforum board, there have been a LOT of reports of people talking to their state rep and getting their permit in hand in under 2 weeks...some in a matter of days. I wouldn't be so bold as to suggest it's a silver bullet solution, but it sure can't hurt.

The problem is that Harris county is screwing you...it's not the DPS. They have ONE person who does ALL of the background checks for Harris county...and if she's out, or if her duties pull her away from her desk to do other things...she's not doing much background checking.

 

[txinvestigator]

The problem is that Harris county is screwing you...it's not the DPS. They have ONE person who does ALL of the background checks for Harris county...and if she's out, or if her duties pull her away from her desk to do other things...she's not doing much background checking.

I don't know where you heard that, but DPS send one of their employees to conduct the background check. After Ike all personnel were assigned to Ike coverage.

They should be back to normal now, but I imagine there is a backlog.

 

[Morgan]

Yeah....it's highway patrol.... so that's DPS....I'll repost the text from the message on the other forum, and a link at the bottom. I highly doubt that DPS "sends" someone to each individual county for back ground checks. They send a background check request to the county and wait to get it back is my understanding of how it works. I could be wrong. I don't have a dog in the fight. But if it's on the state agency CHL department of DPS, why is the wait hitting Harris county and not really others?

" Re: September Applications

by pdubyoo on Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:12 pm
HARRIS COUNTY APPLICANTS - MUST READ
I'm not sure what good will come from it, but I sent another letter to my Rep on the 24th, asking her office to look into the delay for background checks from Harris County. I gave my submittal timeline along with the fact that CHL applicants from non-gulf coast counties are getting their licenses in 40-65 days. I'm on day 89, which I know is peanuts compared to what some applicants have endured. But it's a principal thing...I wan't want Harris County to do better. I asked them to please look into the matter, and please don't send me a boiler-plate response letter (I asked the same from the Gov).

I got an e-mail response from my Rep's chief of staff on Wednesday 11/26. He was asking me if I had seen any change in my processing status...I responded "no, not yet". He responded again and said that he will continue to dig into it for me. While I greatly appreciated his effort at the time, I didn't really expect anything more to come from it.

Anyway, I received a call today from a Leut. from the Texas Highway Patrol here in Harris County, following-up on a letter that I sent to my Rep. He said that the chief of staff from my Reps office called him to ask about the status of my application.

Now, here's where all the Harris County applicants really need to pay attention! He works in the same office as the "Trooper" that processes the CHL background checks for Harris County, but she was currently unavailable as she is serving as an honor guard at an officer's funeral today. But that he would personally check with her later this week when she gets settled back into her routine, and will call me back by Friday at the latest. He was very nice and accomodating, so I asked him about the staff that processes the applications...how many people are currently working in that role? He said, only Trooper ___. He said that it is her full-time job...processing CHL application BC's for Harris County.

I was sure that I misunderstood him, so I asked him again to clarify, and yes, it's only one person that handles the CHL BC's for Harris County. Whoa! So, since he was being so enlightening, I asked how hurricane Ike effected her job. He said that Trooper ____ was reassigned for 5-6 weeks to hurricane duty immediately after the storm, and that, during that time, nobody was processing those CHL BC's. Another Whoa!

So, there you go...Harris County is at least 5-6 weeks behind due to Ike, and then, anytime that she takes off for other responsibilities, such as today, the BC's go untouched.

I will share more after I hear back from the Leut. I have a name of the Trooper, but I'm not going to make it public, as it's not quite fair to her. More later..."

TexasCHLforum.com

The sub forum is "the waiting room" the thread is "september applications" and you can find this info and follow up starting on page 4.

Again... I have no dog in the fight, just waiting on my own permit.

 

[txinvestigator]

Yeah....it's highway patrol.... so that's DPS....I'll repost the text from the message on the other forum, and a link at the bottom. I highly doubt that DPS "sends" someone to each individual county for back ground checks. They send a background check request to the county and wait to get it back is my understanding of how it works. I could be wrong. I don't have a dog in the fight. But if it's on the state agency CHL department of DPS, why is the wait hitting Harris county and not really others?

Uhh, Hurricane Ike.


And DPS DOES send an employee into each county. They manually do the checks. DPS has a presence in all 254 counties in Texas.

 

[Morgan]

I think we're having a semantic argument here... To my way of thinking, if they HAVE an office somewhere, they don't "send" someone there.

I KNOW it's Hurricane Ike that's causing the Harris county issue. THAT IS MY POINT! It's not the fault of the people in Austin in the CHL office's fault...it's the fault a staffing issue in Harris County DPS. They don't have enough staff to handle the backlog.

 

[PopsXD9sc]

Whatever the issue my status on their website changed yesterday to license issued. It's been 50 days since I took the class (mailed thwo days later). With any luck the plastic will arrive before 60 days is up. I e-mailed my state rep, the governor, and state Senator before ever taking the course. The state rep was the only one who answered; stated that DPS had assigned more people to handle the apps and I should expect to receive the license within 60 days. Since I don't live in Harris County I guess this will happen. What do you know; a politician finally told the truth.

 

[Morgan]

Tha'ts awesome, Pops! They actually have a month to start and THEN 60 days to issue, deny or tell you what the delay is and give an ETA... so when people actually get it in under 60 days, that's pretty awesome.

 

[txinvestigator]

I think we're having a semantic argument here... To my way of thinking, if they HAVE an office somewhere, they don't "send" someone there.

I KNOW it's Hurricane Ike that's causing the Harris county issue. THAT IS MY POINT! It's not the fault of the people in Austin in the CHL office's fault...it's the fault a staffing issue in Harris County DPS. They don't have enough staff to handle the backlog.

Gotcha. DPS sends a Trooper from the regional DPS office into the county and district clerks offices (different places), as well as the Tax Office. That's what I mean when I say "send".

 

[DILLON1980]

This is all really good info. It would appear that my state reps office does not know who to contact regarding CHL back logs. I contacted the office and they actually call Austin , when by the looks of things, they should be calling Harris County or atleast the Regional DPS office here in Houston. Maybe in the silkiest of mannerisms I might suggest to my state reps office to call the DPS Regional office and quit calling Austin. I assumed they would have had a better sense of direction than that . I certainly hoped that they would have had a better sense of direction than me...I'll keep you guys posted . Thanks.

 

[txinvestigator]

This is all really good info. It would appear that my state reps office does not know who to contact regarding CHL back logs. I contacted the office and they actually call Austin , when by the looks of things, they should be calling Harris County or atleast the Regional DPS office here in Houston. Maybe in the silkiest of mannerisms I might suggest to my state reps office to call the DPS Regional office and quit calling Austin. I assumed they would have had a better sense of direction than that . I certainly hoped that they would have had a better sense of direction than me...I'll keep you guys posted . Thanks.

I don't know what your state rep can do about it. DPS employees do not work for the state rep. The Director of DPS is appointed by the Public Safety Commission, whose 5 members are appointed by the Governor.

A state rep has no more authority over a DPS employee than he does over me. I suppose if he contacted the DPS Colonel or a member of the PSC, then THEY could put pressure on that DPS office to rush through or finish a particular application.

 

[Morgan]

It seems to have worked for any number of posters on the tx chl forum. It sure can't HURT. But getting state agencies to do what they're supposed to do is part of what state reps do.

 

[txinvestigator]

It seems to have worked for any number of posters on the tx chl forum. It sure can't HURT. But getting state agencies to do what they're supposed to do is part of what state reps do.

Agree it cannot hurt.

Remember, reps are Legislative Branch, DPS is Executive Branch. The Governor's office would be more directly able to impact the process, it seems to me.

Regardless, I wish you luck and hope you get issued quickly.

 

[spike1]

3 of us took the CHL class the first weekend of August. I just received mine 2 weeks ago. My two buddies have yet to receive theres.

 

[Morgan]

Did they send right away? have they called DPS for a status? Have they received a letter to give them a status?

 

[Morgan]

I just checked my online status, and my status has changed.

Application Completed - license issued or certificate active

That's 37 days from the day they received the packet, and only 22 days from the day my status changed to "Processing Application."

Wow.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

I rec'd my renewed CHL in the mail today. It took 51 days from the day TxDPS signed for my packet until I rec'd my CHL back from them.

 

[Morgan]

More success stories from people on txchlforum.com who called their state reps, and got nearly immediate calls from DPS saying that they were getting their permits sent out. In many cases, people who've been unreasonably held up have had their permits over-nighted as a courtesy. Pretty impressive.