HB 2631 Text

H. B. 2631

(By Delegate Swartzmiller)
[Introduced February 24, 2005; referred to the
Committee on Roads and Transportation then the Judiciary.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §17B-2-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to requiring registered sex offenders to be issued special coded driver's licenses that identify the holder or owner as a registered sex offender; to establish the type of special code and procedures at sentencing; providing fees; and providing misdemeanor criminal penalties for failure to comply with the special license requirement.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17B-2-3 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2. ISSUANCE OF LICENSE, EXPIRATION AND RENEWAL.

§17B-2-3. What persons may not be licensed; exceptions.
The Division may not issue any license hereunder:
(1) To any person who is under the age of eighteen years: Provided, That the Division may issue a junior driver's license or on or after the first day of January, two thousand ~~and~~ one, a graduated driver's license, to a person under the age of eighteen years in accordance with the provisions of section three-a of this article;
(2) To any person, as a Class A, B, C or D driver, who is under the age of eighteen years;
(3) To any person, whose license has been suspended or revoked, during the suspension or revocation;
(4) To any person who is an habitual drunkard or is addicted to the use of narcotic drugs;
(5) To any person, who has previously been adjudged to be afflicted with or suffering from any mental disability or disease and who has not at the time of application been restored to competency by judicial decree or released from a hospital for the mentally incompetent upon the certificate of the superintendent of the institution that the person is competent, and not then unless the Commissioner is satisfied that the person is competent to operate a motor vehicle with a sufficient degree of care for the safety of persons or property;
(6) To any person who is required by this chapter to take an examination, unless the person has successfully passed the examination;
(7) To any person when the Commissioner has good cause to believe that the operation of a motor vehicle on the highways by the person would be inimical to public safety or welfare; and
(8) To any person required to be registered as a sex offender under the provisions of article twelve, chapter fifteen for the period he or she is required to be registered, unless he or she obtains a driver's license coded by the Commissioner to denote the licensee is a convicted sex offender as follows:
(A) At sentencing. -- If an applicant is required to register as a sex offender after the effective date of this section, the sentencing court shall take possession of his or her driver's license and shall direct the person to report to the Division of Motor Vehicles for a replacement driver's license coded by the Commissioner to denote the licensee is a convicted sex offender. The sentencing court shall forward to the Division all licenses that it receives, along with a copy of the sentencing order.
(B) Current convicted sex offenders. -- If a holder or an applicant is required to register as a sex offender prior to the effective date of this section, he or she shall surrender his or her driver's license to the Division of Motor Vehicles for a replacement driver's license coded by the Commissioner to denote the licensee is a convicted sex offender.
The Division of Motor Vehicles may charge a fee of five dollars for replacement licenses. Upon showing proof that a person is no longer required to register as a sex offender, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall issue a driver's license without the sex offender code printed upon the license at no charge. No person issued a special operator's license under the provisions of this section may alter or deface the license to obscure the special marking identifying the owner as a registered sex offender.
Any person failing to comply with the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require registered sex offenders to be issued special driver's licenses that identify the holder or owner as a registered sex offender. This bill also provides misdemeanor criminal penalties for failure to comply with the special licensing requirement.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.

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