AB 1873: Driver’s licenses: veteran designation.

Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue a drivers license to an applicant when the department determines that the applicant is lawfully entitled to a license. Existing law allows an in-person applicant for a drivers license or identification card to request the word VETERAN be printed on the face of the drivers license or identification card, subject to certain requirements, including, among others, verification of veteran status, as specified, and payment of a $5 fee, which the department is authorized to increase by regulation, in an amount not to exceed $15, as specified. Commencing July 1, 2019, existing law prohibits a fee from being charged for that request if made by (1) a person who has been determined to have a current income level that meets the eligibility requirements for specified assistance programs, or (2) a person who can verify his or her status as a homeless person, in accordance with specified provisions.

This bill would make those fee provisions inoperative on July 1, 2019, and repeal them on January 1, 2020, as specified, thereby authorizing an applicant whose veteran status has been verified, as prescribed, to make a veteran designation request, and requiring the department to make that designation on the applicants drivers license or identification card, without additional charge. The bill also would make conforming changes.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12811 of the Vehicle Code proposed by SB 987 to be operative only if this bill and SB 987 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.