AUSTIN — Despite a proposal to take away driver licensing from its list of duties, the Department of Public Safety insists it can do the job best — if only the Legislature provides it with more money and workers.

"No one else knows driver's licenses," DPS director Steve McCraw told a meeting of the Public Safety Commission on Friday. "If we don't get resources for it, it's just not going to improve.

"There's no question DPS can accomplish anything given the opportunity," he said. "We'd certainly like the opportunity."

McCraw's comments came two days after the state's Sunset Advisory Commission recommended that lawmakers look into transferring administration of driver licensing to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles by 2021. To the chagrin of many Texans, driver's license offices across the state have been plagued by hours-long waits and other inefficiencies.

DPS officials have said they will comply with whatever the Legislature decides in the upcoming session, which begins in January.

In the meantime, DPS officials said, they will continue to make it a priority to improve the offices. And they asked state lawmakers for more money to make that happen.

Any request beyond an agency's base funding must be attached to its budget request as an "exceptional item." Of DPS' $812 million in exceptional item requests, more than half — $420 million — would go toward improving driver's license offices.

Topping the list was a request for pay raises for the offices' customer service representatives. Each makes an average of $26,000 a year. The agency proposed to increase that to $35,000. Doing so would cost $51.3 million in the 2020-2021 budget cycle.

Amanda Arriaga, director of the driver license division, said the move would "honor" the professional work the customer service representatives do and help stanch high turnover. Staff exits contribute to intermittent office closures and frustratingly long lines, she said.

"We have a pretty significant turnover rate at that ... entry level," she said. "We thought this was a great step in the right direction, that the No. 1 thing we should do is give props to our people who are doing this job every day."

She said the department currently has about 200 vacancies in the division. To increase staffing at the driver's license offices, the department will ask for 962 more full-time employees at a two-year cost of $178.6 million. DPS also will look to expand the number of offices in the 15 highest-growing areas in the state, which include Fort Worth, Plano/McKinney and Denton. That would require 952 additional employees at a cost of $190.1 million.

In August, DPS generated criticism by publishing a list of 87 driver's license offices that it recommended be closed. It did so in response to a recommendation by the Sunset panel's staff, which asked DPS to "develop and implement a plan to close inefficient driver license offices." Some elected officials complained that the department's recommendations mostly targeted small offices in rural areas. Users of the threatened offices would have to drive between 30 miles and 50 miles to reach another, they said.

The Sunset Commission rejected its staff's proposal to close some offices.

Arriaga said the funding increases are needed because demand at driver's license offices is growing as more people move to the state. People have the option to apply and receive most services online but choose to go to the offices in person, which also contributes to long lines.

The Public Safety Commission, which oversees DPS and whose five members are appointed by the governor, agreed with the department's recommendations.

"What I want to be clear on is that we're not just taking this neutral position," said Steven Mach of Houston, the commission's chairman. "We do continue to believe that DL [driver's license] should be in DPS."

Commissioner Manny Flores of Austin went further, saying the department should be asking for more staff to handle the growing demand at driver's license offices. He also expressed disbelief at the pay for people working in the offices.

"I don’t know how you live on $26,000, I really don’t. That’s close to poverty," he said. "The ask is very reasonable. And anyone that should call us and say 'Why are you closing these driver licenses?' Call your state rep."

In the state's two-year budget, lawmakers decide how much money to give each agency.