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Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles locations may soon accept credit and debit cards for the first time, under a provision in the state's transportation budget.

(Associated Press file)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio residents may soon be able to use a credit or debit card to pay for driver's licenses or other fees at their local Bureau of Motor Vehicles office.

Ohio's two-year transportation budget bill, passed by the Ohio House earlier this week, would allow the state's 192 BMV locations to accept plastic by July of 2016 as long as the cardholders pay an additional service fee.

Currently, the BMV allows customers to use credit or debit cards to pay for transactions done online or over the phone. But at BMV locations, only checks and cash are accepted.

That's because until recently, Visa and MasterCard effectively prohibited public officials from passing on the cost of credit-card fees to customers in face-to-face transactions. But those policies were changed under a 2013 court settlement.

The change would be an added convenience for motorists, said Theresa Podguski, director of legislative affairs for AAA East Central, which covers Northeast Ohio.

Podguski noted that motorists who don't want to be charged a credit-card service fee would still be able to pay by cash or check.

Don Petit, the Ohio BMV's registrar, said customers have complained for years about not being able to use credit or debit cards.

"One of the long-running jokes is 'Where's the one place on Earth you can't use your credit card? At the BMV,'" Petit said.

The transportation budget, House Bill 53, must now pass the Ohio Senate before heading to Gov. John Kasich for his signature.