Motor vehicle operating privileges, seizures by courts or law enforcement officers of operator's licenses, and reinstatement of canceled identification cards

The bill also allows a person who is otherwise eligible to obtain an occupational license to do so without surrendering his or her revoked operator's license.

Under current law, if a court suspends a person's operating privilege for certain violations and at the time of the suspension the person does not have a valid operator's license, the period of operating privilege suspension does not begin until the person is eligible and applies for an operator's license or until a specified period of time elapses, whichever occurs first.

Under this bill, a person need not apply for issuance, renewal, or reinstatement of an operator's license to trigger the commencement of the period of operating privilege suspension. The period of operating privilege suspension begins when the person first becomes eligible for issuance, renewal, or reinstatement of an operator's license. This bill also eliminates the requirement that a nonresident whose operating privilege is revoked in this state obtain a valid operator's license issued by his or her resident state as a condition of reinstatement by DOT of the nonresident's operating privilege.

Current law provides in most cases for automatic reinstatement of a person's suspended operating privilege after the period of operating privilege suspension has terminated and the person has paid the reinstatement fee. However, after revocation of a person's operating privilege, disqualification of a person's authorization to operate a commercial motor vehicle, or cancellation of a person's operator's license, in most cases reinstatement requires DOT to issue a new operator's license.

Reinstated licenses expire two years from the person's next birthday.

This bill provides for automatic reinstatement of a person's revoked operating privilege if the applicable period of revocation has expired and the person has applied for reinstatement and paid to DOT the applicable fee. The bill also provides for automatic reinstatement of a person's canceled operator's license or identification card if the cancellation occurred for specified reasons, the person has paid to DOT the applicable fee, and the reasons for the cancellation have been rectified.

The bill clarifies the general requirements for reinstatement of a person's authorization to operate a commercial motor vehicle. Under the bill, upon a person's application for reinstatement, DOT may reinstate the person's authorization to operate a commercial motor vehicle and issue a commercial driver license to the person if the person has paid the required fees and taken any examination required by DOT; however, DOT may not do so during any period of disqualification under state or federal law, under the law of another jurisdiction disqualifying the person from operating a commercial motor vehicle under circumstances similar to those specified in state or federal law, or under a federal agency determination that the person is no longer qualified to operate a commercial motor vehicle. The bill also provides for automatic reinstatement if the disqualification results from the issuance of a 24-hour out-of-service order. The bill eliminates the two-year expiration period for reinstated licenses if the license is canceled on a basis for which automatic reinstatement applies.