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OLR Bill Analysis
HB 6875
AN ACT CONCERNING THE ISSUANCE OF AN IDENTITY CARD OR
MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR'S LICENSE TO A PERSON BEING
DISCHARGED FROM A CORRECTIONAL FACILITY.
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Department of Correction (DOC) and
Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) commissioners to proactively
help incarcerated individuals to ensure that they have a state identity
card or driver’s license when they are released from a correctional
facility.
Under current law, the commissioners must ensure an incarcerated
individual possesses the card or license if he or she requests and
qualifies for it and pays any associated fee. The bill instead (1) requires
the commissioners to do so unless the person indicates, in writing, on a
DOC commissioner-prescribed form, that he or she does not want a card
or license and (2) imposes deadlines by which the commissioners must
start helping incarcerated individuals get necessary documentation. It
also eliminates the requirement that the commissioners give this help
within available appropriations.
As under current law, the bill’s provisions apply to those released
from a correctional facility after serving any part of a prison term for a
misdemeanor or felony conviction.
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 1, 2023
STATE IDENTITY CARD AND DRIVER’S LICENSE
When a person is taken into DOC custody, the bill requires the DOC
commissioner, in consultation and collaboration with the DMV
commissioner, to determine whether the person has a current state
identity card or driver’s license and, if so, the date it expires. 2023HB-06875-R000588-BA.DOCX
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For any incarcerated individual who wants an initial state identity
card or driver’s license or to renew or obtain a duplicate one for a lost
card or license, the DOC commissioner, in consultation and
collaboration with the DMV commissioner, must:
1. at least 24 months before the person’s discharge date, determine
the documentation necessary for the card or license and facilitate
the process to enable the person to quickly get this
documentation by providing access to any forms, fees, fee
waivers, notary services, and mailing-related needs;
2. at least 13 months before the person’s discharge date, to similarly
enable him or her to quickly get any more required
documentation or photographs by providing the same access as
listed above and a way to get required photographs; and
3. make any required licensing exam available to the person seeking
a driver’s license, except for the required DMV road test.
For those in prison on a life sentence, the timeframes are the same as
above but based on the person’s earliest eligibility date for parole, rather
than the discharge date. The commissioner must also immediately begin
the process for getting necessary documentation when any such
person’s sentence is reduced and the reduced sentence results in a
discharge date within these timeframes.
Under the bill, when a person is released from a correctional facility
DOC must give the card or license to anyone who has successfully
obtained it.
ANNUAL REPORT
By July 1, 2024, the DOC commissioner must begin annually
reporting to the Judiciary Committee on:
1. the total number of formerly incarcerated individuals who were
issued original, renewal, or duplicate state identity cards and
driver’s licenses, separated by card and license and examination
type; 2023HB-06875-R000588-BA.DOCX
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2. the total number of cards and licenses issued to individuals in
each individual correctional facility; and
3. any issues DOC encounters in implementing the bill along with
any recommendations for resolving the problems or improving
the bill’s provisions.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 37 Nay 0 (03/27/2023)