FISCAL
NOTE
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
[
to the Committee on Roads and Transportation then Finance.
A BILL to amend and
reenact §17B-2-12 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
extending the expiration of driver's
licenses for active military members'
spouses; permitting the spouse to renew his or her license from wherever they
are located and need not be in person; and authorizing rule making.
Be it enacted by the
Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17B-2-12 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-2-12. Expiration of licenses.
(a) Except as provided in subsection
subsections (b) and (c) of this section, every driver's license expires
eight years from the date of its issuance.
(b)(1) Every driver's
license issued to a person who has attained his or her twenty-first birthday
expires on the licensee's birthday. The commissioner may modify the expiration
date of any license as necessary to effectuate the transition from the
five-year renewal cycle to an eight-year renewal cycle as he or she considers
necessary.
(2) Every driver's license
issued to a person who has not attained his or her twenty-first birthday
expires thirty days after the licensee's
twenty-first birthday, except as provided in section three-a of this article.
(3) The driver's license of
any person in the Armed Forces member of United States Armed Forces
and that of his or her spouse expires six months after the date on which
the person member is separated from active duty in the Armed
Forces under honorable circumstances. Additionally, the member’s spouse does
not have to renew his or her license in person, it may be renewed wherever he
or she may be located. The commissioner shall propose rules for legislative
approval in accordance with article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of the code to
implement this subsection.
(c) A license issued to a
person who is not a citizen of the United States may only be issued for the
time the person is legally authorized to be in the United States, not to exceed
eight years. If the time the person is
authorized to be in the United States is extended, the commissioner may renew
the license in accordance with section twelve-a of this article for the time
extended, not to exceed eight years.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend the
expiration of the driver's licenses of
military members' spouses. The bill
permits the spouse to renew his or her license from wherever they are located
and not in person. The bill authorizes rule making.
Strike-throughs indicate language
that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring
indicates new language that would be added.