Bill Text: VA HB852 | 2022 | Regular Session | Prefiled
Bill Title: Minors; issuance of original driver's licenses.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-15 - Left in Transportation [HB852 Detail]
Download: Virginia-2022-HB852-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 A. Except as provided in subsection B, 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, 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 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.
B. The chief juvenile and domestic relations district court judge may waive the ceremonial requirements of subsection A for each juvenile and domestic relations district court within the district or order that each juvenile and domestic relations district court within the district conduct such ceremony in an alternative manner. In courts where the ceremony has been waived, the Department shall mail or otherwise deliver the driver's licenses directly to licensees.
C. 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.
