SENATE, No. 678

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 5, 1996

By Senator KYRILLOS

An Act concerning the issuance of driver's licenses and amending R.S.39:3-10 and P.L.1951, c.216.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey

    1. R.S.39:3-10 is amended to read as follows:

    39:3-10. No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a public highway in this State unless licensed to do so in accordance with this article. No person under 17 years of age shall be licensed to drive motor vehicles, nor shall a person be licensed until he has passed a satisfactory examination as to his ability as an operator. The director may authorize, by contract, licensing or other appropriate means, a private driver training facility to administer any portion of the examination for any driver's license or endorsement. The director shall adopt such rules and regulations as deemed necessary to establish, oversee, and regulate the administration of motor vehicle driver testing by private driver training facilities, including establishing maximum fees that may be charged and safeguards to ensure the integrity of the examination process, including, except for courses conducted by public secondary schools, that an examination shall not be valid unless the examiner is a person other than the student's primary instructor for the course.

    The director may limit the number of private driver training facilities licensed to administer examinations. The director may suspend or revoke any authorization on any reasonable grounds; provided however, if an owner, operator or employee of a private driver training facility, other than a driving school subject to the provisions of P.L.1951, c.216 (C.39:12-1 et seq.), knowingly and willfully violates the provisions of this act or the rules and regulations promulgated by the director concerning the administration of the examination for a driver's license or endorsement or knowingly and willfully engages in fraudulent practices, the director shall deem such conduct reasonable grounds to revoke that facility's authorization to administer any or all examinations. In addition, the director may terminate testing by private driver training facilities at any time.

    An examiner administering a skills test in good faith shall not be held accountable for any violation of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes committed by the person being tested.

    As used in this section, "private driver training facility" means a drivers' school as defined in P.L.1951, c.216 (C.39:12-1 et seq.), a Division of Motor Vehicles agency or any other entity or agency deemed appropriate and approved by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles.

    The examination shall include a test of the applicant's vision, his ability to understand traffic control devices, his knowledge of safe driving practices and of the effects that ingestion of alcohol or drugs has on a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle, his knowledge of such portions of the mechanism of motor vehicles as is necessary to insure the safe operation of a vehicle of the kind or kinds indicated by the applicant and of the laws and ordinary usages of the road and a demonstration of his ability to operate a vehicle of the class designated.

    The director shall expand the driver's license examination by 20%. The additional questions to be added shall consist solely of questions developed in conjunction with the State Department of Health concerning the use of alcohol or drugs as related to highway safety. The director shall develop in conjunction with the State Department of Health supplements to the driver's manual which shall include information necessary to answer any question on the driver's license examination concerning alcohol or drugs as related to highway safety.

    The director shall expand the driver's license examination to include a question asking whether the applicant is aware of the provisions of the "Uniform Anatomical Gift Act," P.L.1969, c.161 (C.26:6-57 et seq.) and the procedure for indicating on the driver's license the intention to make a donation of body organs or tissues pursuant to P.L.1978, c.181 (C.39:3-12.2).

    Any person applying for a driver's license to operate a motor vehicle or motorized bicycle in this State shall surrender to the director any current driver's license issued to him by another state upon his receipt of a driver's license for this State. The director shall refuse to issue a driver's license if the applicant fails to comply with this provision.

    The director shall create classified licensing of drivers covering the following classifications:

    a. Motorcycles, except that for the purposes of this section, motorcycle shall not include any three-wheeled motor vehicle equipped with a single cab with glazing enclosing the occupant, seats similar to those of a passenger vehicle or truck, seat belts and automotive steering;

    b. Omnibuses as classified by R.S.39:3-10.1 and school buses classified under N.J.S.18A:39-1 et seq.;

    c. Articulated vehicles means a combination of a commercial motor vehicle registered at a gross weight in excess of 18,000 pounds and one or more motor-drawn vehicles joined together by means of a coupling device;

    d. All motor vehicles not included in classifications a., b. and c. A license issued pursuant to this classification d. shall be referred to as the "basic driver's license."

    Every applicant for a license under classification b. or c. shall be a holder of a basic driver's license. Any issuance of a license under classification b. or c. shall be by endorsement on the basic driver's license.

    A driver's license for motorcycles may be issued separately, but if issued to the holder of a basic driver's license, it shall be by endorsement on the basic driver's license.

    The director, upon payment of the lawful fee and after he or a person authorized by him has examined the applicant and is satisfied of the applicant's ability as an operator, may, in his discretion, license the applicant to drive a motor vehicle. The license shall authorize him to drive any registered vehicle, of the kind or kinds indicated, and shall expire, except as otherwise provided, on the last day of the 48th calendar month following the calendar month in which such license was issued.

    The director may, at his discretion and for good cause shown, issue licenses which shall expire on a date fixed by him. The fee for licenses with expiration dates fixed by the director shall be fixed by the director in amounts proportionately less or greater than the fee herein established.

    The required fee for a license for the 48-month period shall be as follows:

    Motorcycle license or endorsement $13.00

    Omnibus or school bus endorsement $16.00

    Articulated vehicle endorsement $8.00

    Basic driver's license $16.00

    The director shall waive the payment of fees for issuance of omnibus endorsements whenever an applicant establishes to the director's satisfaction that said applicant will use the omnibus endorsement exclusively for operating omnibuses owned by a nonprofit organization duly incorporated under Title 15 or 16 of the Revised Statutes or Title 15A of the New Jersey Statutes.

    The director shall issue licenses for the following license period on and after the first day of the calendar month immediately preceding the commencement of such period, such licenses to be effective immediately.

    All applications for renewals of licenses shall be made on forms prescribed by the director and in accordance with procedures established by him.

    The director in his discretion may refuse to grant a license to drive motor vehicles to a person who is, in his estimation, not a proper person to be granted such a license, but no defect of the applicant shall debar him from receiving a license unless it can be shown by tests approved by the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles that the defect incapacitates him from safely operating a motor vehicle.

    In addition to requiring an applicant for a driver's license to submit satisfactory proof of identity and age, the director also shall require the applicant to provide, as a condition for obtaining a license, satisfactory proof that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law.

    A person violating this section shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $500.00 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 60 days, but if that person has never been licensed to drive in this State or any other jurisdiction, he shall be subject to a fine of not less than $200.00 and, in addition, the court shall issue an order to the Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles requiring the director to refuse to issue a license to operate a motor vehicle to the person for a period of not less than 180 days. The penalties provided for by this paragraph shall not be applicable in cases where failure to have actual possession of the operator's license is due to an administrative or technical error by the Division of Motor Vehicles.

    Nothing in this section shall be construed to alter or extend the expiration of any license issued prior to the date this amendatory and supplementary act becomes operative.

(cf: P.L.1993, c.34, s.1)

    2. R.S.39:12-7 is amended to read as follows:

    39:12-7. The director, or any employee of the Division of Motor Vehicles deputized by him, may suspend or revoke any school license issued under the provisions of this act or refuse to issue a renewal thereof if:

    a. The licensee has made a material false statement or concealed a material fact in connection with the application for a license or the renewal thereof;

    b. The licensee or any partner or officer of the licensee has been convicted of a crime;

    c. The licensee has failed to comply with any of the provisions of this act or any of the rules and regulations of the director establishing instructional standards and procedures;

    d. The licensee or any partner or officer of such licensee has been guilty of fraud or fraudulent practices in relation to the business conducted under the license, or guilty of inducing another person to resort to fraud or fraudulent practices in relation to securing for himself or another the license to drive a motor vehicle or motorcycle;

    e. The licensee has knowingly employed, as an instructor, a person who has been convicted of a crime or has retained such a person in such employ after knowledge of his conviction; or

    f. The licensee has failed to maintain satisfactory insurance to meet damage claims required by section three of this act.

    The director shall suspend or revoke any school license or refuse to issue a renewal thereof if:

    a. The licensee knowingly and willfully engages in fraud or fraudulent practices in relation to the administration of the examination for any driver's license or endorsement pursuant to the provisions of R.S.39:3-10; or

    b. The licensee knowingly and willfully fails to comply with the provisions of R.S.39:3-10 or any of the rules and regulations promulgated by the director concerning the administration of the examination for any license or endorsement.

(cf: P.L.1951, c.216, s.7)

    3. R.S.39:12-8 is amended to read as follows:

    39:12-8. The director or any employee of the Division of Motor Vehicles deputized by him may suspend or revoke any instructor's license issued under the provisions of this act or refuse to issue renewal thereof if:

    a. The licensee has made a material false statement or concealed a material fact in connection with his application for the license or any renewal thereof;

    b. The licensee has been convicted of a crime;

    c. The licensee has failed to comply with any of the provisions of this act or any of the rules and regulations of the director establishing instructional standards of procedure;

    d. The licensee has been guilty of fraud or fraudulent practices in relation to securing for himself or another a license to drive a motor vehicle or motorcycle.

    The director or any employee of the Division of Motor Vehicles deputized by him may suspend or revoke a motorcycle safety education instructor endorsement to an instructor's license issued under section 5 of P.L.1951, c.216 (C.39:12-5) or refuse to issue renewal thereof if:

    a. The licensee has made a material false statement or concealed a material fact in connection with his application for the endorsement or renewal thereof;

    b. The licensee is disqualified under one of the provisions of section 2 of P.L.1991, c.452 (C.27:5F-37); or

    c. The licensee has failed to comply with any of the provisions of this act or any of the rules and regulations of the director establishing instructional standards of procedure.

    The director shall suspend or revoke any instructor's license or motorcycle safety education instructor endorsement to an instructor's license issued under section 5 of P.L.1951, c.216 (C.39:12-5) or refuse to issue renewal thereof if:

    a. The licensee knowingly and willfully engages in fraud or fraudulent practices in relation to the administration of the examination for any driver's license or endorsement pursuant to the provisions of R.S.39:3-10; or

    b. The licensee knowingly and willfully fails to comply with the provisions of R.S.39:3-10 or the rules and regulations promulgated by the director concerning the administration of the examination for any driver's license or endorsement.

(cf: P.L.1991, c.452, s.10)

    4. This act shall take effect on the first day of the sixth month after enactment.

STATEMENT

    Under the provisions of this bill, the Division of Motor Vehicles in the Department of Law and Public Safety may authorize, by contract, licensing or other appropriate means, a private driver training facility to administer any portion of the examination for any driver's license or endorsement and to issue the actual license or endorsement. The bill requires the director to adopt the necessary regulations to establish, oversee, and regulate driver testing and licensing by private driver training facilities, including the establishment of maximum fees.

    The bill authorizes the director to limit the number of private driver training facilities licensed to administer examinations and issue licenses or endorsements. The director could suspend or revoke any authorization on any reasonable grounds. The director could terminate testing or licensing by a private driver training facility at any time.

    The bill also provides that an examiner administering a skills test in good faith would not be held accountable for any violation of Title 39 of the Revised Statutes committed by the person being tested.

Permits DMV to authorize private driver training facilities to give driver's license examinations.