H. B. 4627


(By Delegate Yost)
[Introduced February 17, 2006; 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 the Division of Motor Vehicles to issue one year licenses to registered sex offenders.

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.
(a) 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.
(b) The division may not issue a license or nondriver identification card to any person required to be registered as a sex offender under the provisions of article twelve, chapter fifteen of this code for the period he or she is required to be registered as a sex offender, unless he or she obtains a driver's license or nondriver identification card coded by the commissioner to denote the licensee is a convicted sex offender. The license or nondriver identification card shall be renewed each year on the sex offender's date of birth as follows:
(1) 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 or nondriver identification card and shall direct the person to report to the division for a replacement driver's license or nondriver identification card coded by the commissioner to denote the licensee is a convicted sex offender and providing that the license expires on the birth date of the convicted sex offender. The sentencing court shall forward to the division all licenses or nondriver identification cards that it receives, along with a copy of the sentencing order for each person convicted of a sex offense.
(2) 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 or nondriver identification card to the Division of Motor Vehicles for a replacement driver's license or nondriver identification card coded by the commissioner to denote the licensee is a convicted sex offender and requiring that the license be renewed each year on the birth date of the sex offender.
The division may charge a fee of ten dollars for a replacement license or nondriver identification card. Upon showing proof that a person is no longer required to register as a sex offender, the division shall issue a driver's license or nondriver identification card without the sex offender code printed upon the license at no charge. No person issued a special operator's license or nondriver identification card 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 felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars or confined in a state correctional facility not less than one year, nor more than two years or both fined and imprisoned.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require registered sex offenders to obtain a driver's license or identification card each year on the date of birth of the registered sex offender.

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