Bill Text: VA HB5004 | 2020 | 1st Special Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Driver's licenses; discretionary requirement to conduct ceremony when issuing to person under 18.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-11-09 - Left in Transportation [HB5004 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2020-HB5004-Prefiled.html
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That §46.2-336 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§46.2-336. Manner of issuing original driver's licenses to minors.
The Department shall forward all original driver's licenses
issued to persons under the age of 18 years
to the judge of the juvenile and domestic relations court in the city or county
in which the licensee resides. The judge or a substitute judge shall issue to
each person to be licensed the license so forwarded, and shall may, at the time of issuance,
conduct a formal, appropriate ceremony, in which he shall illustrate to the
licensee the responsibility attendant on the privilege of driving a motor
vehicle. The attorney for the Commonwealth who serves the jurisdiction in which
the ceremony is to be conducted may request in writing in advance of such
ceremony an opportunity to participate in the ceremony. Any judge who presides
over such ceremony shall, upon request, afford the attorney for the
Commonwealth the opportunity to participate in such ceremony and to address the
prospective licensees and the persons enumerated below who may be accompanying
the prospective licensees as to matters of enforcement, prosecutions,
applicable punishments, and the responsibility of drivers generally. If the
licensee is under the age of 18 years at the time his ceremony is held, he
shall be accompanied at the ceremony by a parent, his guardian, spouse, or
other person in loco parentis. However, the judge, for good cause shown, may
mail or otherwise deliver the driver's license to any person who would otherwise be required to attend the ceremony
and is a student at any educational institution outside of
the Commonwealth of Virginia at the time such license is received by the judge
as prescribed in this section.
The provisions of this section shall not apply to the issuance of Virginia driver's licenses to persons who hold valid driver's licenses issued by other states.