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OLR Bill Analysis
sHB 6875 (as amended by House "A")*
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
ensure that eligible incarcerated individuals with sentences of at least
one year 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 has a card or license if he or she requests and qualifies for
one and pays any associated fee. The bill instead requires the
commissioners to do so unless the person (1) indicates in writing, on a
DOC commissioner-prescribed form, that he or she does not want a card
or license or (2) is otherwise ineligible for one due to suspension,
revocation, or cancellation of motor vehicle provisions in Connecticut or
another state. It also (1) imposes deadlines by which the commissioners
must start helping incarcerated individuals get necessary
documentation and (2) generally eliminates the requirement that the
commissioners do so within available appropriations.
The bill’s card and license requirements apply to those who are
released or discharged from a correctional facility after serving any part
of a prison term for a misdemeanor or felony conviction, rather than just
those released, as under current law.
The bill requires the DMV commissioner to conduct a feasibility
examination on expanding the allowable forms of identification an
incarcerated individual may use to obtain an identification card and
driver’s license. It also requires the DOC commissioner to annually 2023HB-06875-R01-BA.DOCX
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report to the Judiciary Committee certain statistics, issues, and
recommendations on giving these cards and licenses to incarcerated
individuals.
*House Amendment “A” (1) delays the effective date from July 1,
2023, to April 1, 2024; (2) limits the bill’s applicability to those sentenced
for at least one year; (3) eliminates the underlying bill’s requirement that
DOC give incarcerated individuals an initial driver’s license; (4) only
requires providing access to fees and fee waivers within available
appropriations; (5) eliminates the underlying bill’s provision on those
with life imprisonment; (6) adds the feasibility study provisions; and (7)
makes various minor, technical, and conforming changes.
EFFECTIVE DATE: April 1, 2024
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.
For any individual sentenced to a term of imprisonment who wants
an initial state identity card, to renew a driver’s license or card, or obtain
a duplicate of 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 needed for the card or license and help enable
the person to quickly get this documentation by providing access
to any forms, fees, and fee waivers, within available
appropriations, and notary services and mailing-related needs;
and
2. at least 13 months before the person’s discharge date, 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. 2023HB-06875-R01-BA.DOCX
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The DOC commissioner must also begin the process within the same
timeframes above based on a person’s earliest eligibility date for parole.
For those whose sentences are reduced to a discharge date within these
timeframes (24 months and 13 months), the commissioner must
immediately begin the process.
Under the bill, when a person who requested assistance getting a card
or license is released from a correctional facility, DOC must give the
person their card or license unless he or she was ineligible to receive
one.
FEASIBILITY EXAMINATION
The bill requires the DMV commissioner, by January 1, 2025, to
examine whether any feasible modifications can be made to expand the
allowable forms of identification that incarcerated individuals may use
to obtain a driver’s license or identity card. The commissioner must
implement any modifications he determines are feasible.
ANNUAL REPORT
By January 1, 2025, the DOC commissioner, in collaboration with the
DMV commissioner, must begin annually reporting to the Judiciary
Committee on:
1. the total number of formerly incarcerated individuals who were
issued renewal or duplicate state identity cards and driver’s
licenses, separated by card and license type;
2. the total number of cards and licenses issued to individuals in
each individual correctional facility;
3. the total number of incarcerated individuals who were not able
to be issued an identity card or driver’s license, disaggregated to
the extent possible by reason for non-issuance; and
4. any issues the commissioners encountered in implementing the
bill and feasibility examination, and any recommendations for
improving or resolving them. 2023HB-06875-R01-BA.DOCX
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COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 37 Nay 0 (03/27/2023)
Appropriations Committee
Joint Favorable
Yea 53 Nay 0 (05/01/2023)