OKLAHOMA CITY — Many Oklahomans living outside the state’s largest metropolitan areas may soon find themselves driving up to 100 miles to apply for a driver’s license.

Department of Public Safety officials confirmed Monday that potential 15 percent budget cuts threaten to shutter more than two dozen driver’s license exam sites across the state.

That would leave fewer than a dozen locations open.

The exam sites are responsible for screening the state’s first-time license applicants to ensure they can see, hear and pass written and skills tests. The sites also process license transfer requests and commercial driver’s licenses, as well as identification card applications.

Among the exam sites potentially facing the chopping block are those in Ada, Edmond, Norman, Enid, Stillwater, Miami, Grove, Tahlequah, Altus, Shawnee and Chickasha.

“They’ll have a long way to drive to get to a driver’s license testing site if we have do this cut,” said Department of Public Safety Capt. Randy Rogers.

The locations in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Guymon, Woodward, Clinton, Lawton, McAlester, Muskogee, Ardmore and Hugo would remain open under the proposed reduction.

Drivers will still be able to go to their local tag agents to renew or update existing Oklahoma licenses.

State law requires only that the agency operate licensing sites every 100 miles, although Oklahoma has long operated them in much closer proximity as a convenience to residents.

But Rogers said the agency no longer has the personnel to maintain many of the sites because budget cuts and voluntary buyouts the past two years have led to staffing reductions.

“We literally don’t have the personnel to open the doors,” he said.

Many locations are already operating on reduced hours.

Rogers said his agency is also considering other alternatives to bridge a 15 percent cut, including furloughs, reductions in force and canceling trooper academies.

State Rep. Bobby Cleveland, R-Slaughterville, and chair of the House’s Public Safety Committee, said he hadn’t been notified about any potential closures to exam centers.

“I wish they would contact me before they put scare tactics out,” he said, claiming it’s too soon to say whether the agency would be cut 14 percent.

“It’s not an easy situation we’re in here,” he said. “But we shouldn’t be going out and looking at the worst thing we can (cut).”

Still, he said reducing the number of locations could prove challenging for all Oklahomans, so perhaps it’s time for lawmakers to consider privatizing licensing exam centers.

“It looks like it just gutted my (Senate) territory,” said state Sen. Wayne Shaw, R-Grove, as he reviewed the proposed closure list for the first time Monday. Shaw represents several counties in northeastern Oklahoma.

He said most Oklahomans living in outlying areas will have to drive further for service, and any closures will likely hit parents and their teenage children the hardest.

Still, Shaw, who serves as vice chair of the Senate’s Public Safety Committee, said 15 percent budget reductions could become a reality for many agencies.

“It’s not a pretty picture,” he said.

Janelle Stecklein covers the Oklahoma Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jstecklein@cnhi.com.