Introduced Version
House Bill 2631 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
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.