The Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles would like to create a statewide organ donation registry. A unanimous vote by the Ohio Senate has enabled the BMV to come one step closer to their goal.The object of the bill, which is now only pending Gov. Bob Taft’s signature to become a law, is to establish a donor registry that would identify the wishes of individuals that would like to be anatomical donors, said Julie Stebbins, spokeswoman for the BMV. Family members would not be permitted to override a donor’s wishes after their death.Currently, 1.7 million Ohio residents with driver’s licenses or motorcycle endorsements stated that they would like to be organ donors. That is nearly 46 percent of all Ohio drivers.In addition, 71,122 identification card holders in Ohio have specified that they would like to be organ donors.At this time, a donor’s immediate family members are still consulted before the organs are used, Stebbins said. This wastes vital time and allows the family to prevent the organs from being donated at all.”This bill ensures that a donor’s wishes are paramount, even after their death,” Stebbins said.Organ procurement organizations, eye banks, and tissue banks will maintain the donor registry, Stebbins said. This will enable them to have immediate access to donor information and medical history.Ohio Lt. Governor and Director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Maureen O’Connor, said a donor registry is a logical move for Ohio.”This is a good policy for the BMV,” O’Connor said. “It makes sense to house the registry in the BMV, since the data is already collected for driver licenses and motorcycle endorsements.”Stebbins said assuming Gov. Taft signs this bill, the BMV has until Jan. 1, 2002 to compile the preliminary information and establish the tentative concept for the registry. By July 1, 2002, it must be functioning as a fully operational organ donor registry.”The BMV is very serious and very excited about bring a donor registry to Ohio,” Stebbins said. “It makes total sense to have a registry functioning 24 hours a day, seven days a week to save lives.”