UPDATE: The Senate voted 37-0 May 29 to send the measure to Gov. Bobby Jindal for his signature. If it's signed favorably, Louisiana will have a 6-year driver's license starting July 1, 2015.

Fees will increase, however, from $28.50 to $42.75 to cover the costs of an extra two years.

ORIGINAL, MAY 12: Louisiana residents may soon be able to renew their driver's licenses every six years instead of four under a Senate-backed measure that got House Committee approval Monday.

Republican Baton Rouge Sen. Dan Claitor said State Police Col. Mike Edmonson testified during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that the bill could help relieve long wait times at OMVs.

Most people still march in (the DMV) to get their driver's license renewed.

"He suggested that if we extended the time period from four years to six years," Claitor said, we'd be able to cut the wait significantly. So I filed the bill before he'd left committee."

Claitor said several states already allow 6-year renewals, and some others require renewal only after eight. He said there was no opposition to the legislation on the Senate Floor.

"Some folks are able to do it online pretty efficiently, but most people still march in there to get their driver's license renewed," Claitor said.

A Senate bill that would allow motorists to have any Louisiana university's logo put on their driver's license also passed in the House Transportation Committee Monday.

New Iberia Sen. Fred Mills passed legislation last year that allowed the phrase "I'm a Cajun" to be put on a driver's license, which was the idea that sparked his new bill.

Mills said the bill would let any university in the state have this option if they wanted it.

Both issues now head to the House floor.

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