GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 2011

 

 

SESSION LAW 2011-381

HOUSE BILL 761

 

 

AN ACT to make tampering with an ignition interlock system an unlawful act, to remove colored border requirements from certain licenses, to clarify that special identification cards are subject to violation provisions, and to allow the division of motor vehicles to conduct background INVESTIGATIONS on every PERSON APPLYING FOR A RESTORATION OF A REVOKED LICENSE.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

SECTION 1.  Article 3 of Chapter 20 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 20-17.8A.  Tampering with ignition interlock systems.

Any person who tampers with, circumvents, or attempts to circumvent an ignition interlock device required to be installed on a motor vehicle pursuant to judicial order, statute, or as may be otherwise required as a condition for an individual to operate a motor vehicle, for the purpose of avoiding or altering testing on the ignition interlock device in the operation or attempted operation of a vehicle, or altering the testing results received or results in the process of being received on the ignition interlock device, is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Each act of tampering, circumvention, or attempted circumvention under this statute shall constitute a separate violation."

SECTION 2.  G.S. 20-7(n) reads as rewritten:

"(n)       Format. - A drivers license issued by the Division must be tamperproof and must contain all of the following information:

(1)        An identification of this State as the issuer of the license.

(2)        The license holder's full name.

(3)        The license holder's residence address.

(4)        A color photograph, or a properly applied laser engraved picture on polycarbonate material, of the license holder, taken by the Division.

(5)        A physical description of the license holder, including sex, height, eye color, and hair color.

(6)        The license holder's date of birth.

(7)        An identifying number for the license holder assigned by the Division. The identifying number may not be the license holder's social security number.

(8)        Each class of motor vehicle the license holder is authorized to drive and any endorsements or restrictions that apply.

(9)        The license holder's signature.

(10)      The date the license was issued and the date the license expires.

In taking photographs of license holders, the Division must distinguish between license holders who are less than 21 years old and license holders who are at least 21 years old by using different color backgrounds or borders for each group. The Division shall determine the different colors to be used. The Commissioner shall ensure that applicants 21 years old or older are issued drivers licenses and special identification cards that are printed in a horizontal format. The Commissioner shall ensure that applicants under the age of 21 are issued drivers licenses and special identification cards that are printed in a vertical format, that distinguishes them from the horizontal format, for ease of identification of individuals under age 21 by members of industries that regulate controlled products that are sale restricted by age and law enforcement officers enforcing these laws.

At the request of an applicant for a drivers license, a license issued to the applicant must contain the applicant's race."

SECTION 3.  G.S. 20-11(a) reads as rewritten:

"(a)       Process. - Safe driving requires instruction in driving and experience. To ensure that a person who is less than 18 years old has both instruction and experience before obtaining a drivers license, driving privileges are granted first on a limited basis and are then expanded in accordance with the following process:

(1)        Level 1. - Driving with a limited learner's permit.

(2)        Level 2. - Driving with a limited provisional license.

(3)        Level 3. - Driving with a full provisional license.

A permit or license issued under this section must have a color background or border that indicates indicate the level of driving privileges granted by the permit or license."

SECTION 4.  G.S. 20-30 reads as rewritten:

"§ 20-30.  Violations of license orlicense, learner's permit permit, or special identification card provisions.

It shall be unlawful for any person to commit any of the following acts:

(1)        To display or cause to be displayed or to have in possession a driver's license orlicense, learner's permit, or special identification card, knowing the same to be fictitious or to have been canceled, revoked, suspended or altered.

(2)        To counterfeit, sell, lend to, or knowingly permit the use of, by one not entitled thereto, a driver's license orlicense, learner's permit.permit, or special identification card.

(3)        To display or to represent as one's own a license ordrivers license, learner's permitpermit, or special identification card not issued to the person so displaying same.

(4)        To fail or refuse to surrender to the Division upon demand any driver's license orlicense, learner's permit permit, or special identification card that has been suspended, canceled or revoked as provided by law.

(5)        To use a false or fictitious name or give a false or fictitious address in any application for a driver's license orlicense, learner's permit, or special identification card, or any renewal or duplicate thereof, or knowingly to make a false statement or knowingly conceal a material fact or otherwise commit a fraud in any such application, or for any person to procure, or knowingly permit or allow another to commit any of the foregoing acts. Any license orlicense, learner's permit permit, or special identification card procured as aforesaid shall be void from the issuance thereof, and any moneys paid therefor shall be forfeited to the State. Any person violating the provisions of this subdivision shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

(6)        To make a color photocopy or otherwise make a color reproduction of a drivers license, learner's permit, or special identification card which has been color-photocopied or otherwise reproduced in color, unless such color photocopy or other color reproduction was authorized by the Commissioner. It shall be lawful to make a black and white photocopy of a drivers license, learner's permit, or special identification card or otherwise make a black and white reproduction of a drivers license, learner's permit, or special identification card.

(7)        To sell or offer for sale any reproduction or facsimile or simulation of a driver's license orlicense, learner's permit.permit, or special identification card. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to agents or employees of the Division while acting in the course and scope of their employment. Any person, firm or corporation violating the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a Class I felony.

(8)        To possess more than one commercial drivers license or to possess a commercial drivers license and a regular drivers license. Any commercial drivers license other than the one most recently issued is subject to immediate seizure by any law enforcement officer or judicial official. Any regular drivers license possessed at the same time as a commercial drivers license is subject to immediate seizure by any law enforcement officer or judicial official.

(9)        To present, display, or use a drivers license orlicense, learner's permit permit, or special identification card that contains a false or fictitious name in the commission or attempted commission of a felony. Any person violating the provisions of this subdivision shall be guilty of a Class I felony."

SECTION 5.  Article 4 of Chapter 114 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:

"§ 114-19.31.  Criminal history record checks of applicants for a restoration of a revoked drivers license.

The Department of Justice may provide to the Division of Motor Vehicles, from the State and National Repositories of Criminal Histories, the criminal history record of any applicant for a restoration of a revoked drivers license. Along with the request, the Division shall provide to the Department of Justice the fingerprints of the applicant, a form signed by the applicant consenting to the criminal history record check and use of fingerprints, other identifying information required by the State and National Repositories, and any additional information required by the Department of Justice. The applicant's fingerprints shall be forwarded to the State Bureau of Investigation for a search of the State's criminal history record file, and the State Bureau of Investigation shall forward a set of fingerprints to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history record check. The Division shall keep all information obtained pursuant to this section confidential. The Department of Justice may charge a fee to offset the cost incurred by it to conduct a criminal history record check under this section. The fee shall not exceed the actual cost of locating, editing, researching, and retrieving the information. Fees and other costs incurred by the Division under this statute may be charged to the applicant."

SECTION 6.  Sections 1 and 4 of this act become effective December 1, 2011, and apply to offenses committed on or after that date.  Sections 2 and 3 of this act become effective December 1, 2011, and apply to licenses issued on or after that date.  The remainder of this act becomes effective December 1, 2011. Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 18th day of June, 2011.

 

 

                                                                    s/  Philip E. Berger

                                                                         President Pro Tempore of the Senate

 

 

                                                                    s/  Thom Tillis

                                                                         Speaker of the House of Representatives

 

 

                                                                    s/  Beverly E. Perdue

                                                                         Governor

 

 

Approved 1:14 p.m. this 27th day of June, 2011