SENATE BUDGET AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
STATEMENT TO
SENATE, No. 1297
with committee amendments
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
DATED: OCTOBER 7, 2024
The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee reports
favorably and with committee amendments Senate Bill No. 1297.
As amended and reported, this bill requires the Chief
Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission
(commission) to create and issue, in addition to the printed, hard-
copy driver’s license or identification card issued by the
commission, a mobile driver’s license or mobile identification card
to an individual who voluntarily requests such electronic
documentation. Under the bill, a mobile driver’s license includes
an electronic basic driver’s license, electronic motorcycle license,
and electronic probationary driver’s license that is accessible on a
mobile electronic communication device and includes all
information found on a printed, hard-copy basic driver’s license,
motorcycle license, or probationary driver’s license. The
commission may charge and collect a reasonable fee for the
issuance of a mobile driver’s license or mobile identification card.
When issuing a mobile driver’s license and mobile identification
card, the commission is required to prevent and detect the
alteration, duplication, counterfeiting, photographing, forging, or
other modification of the mobile driver’s license and mobile
identification card. The commission is also required to include
features in the mobile driver’s license and mobile identification
card to ensure the security and integrity of these documents.
Under the bill, the commission is to allow a person with a mobile
driver’s license or a mobile identification card, or a person applying
for such documentation, to update the person’s motor vehicle
record. The changes are to immediately become part of the
person’s official motor vehicle record.
The bill provides that a person may possess a mobile driver’s
license when driving a motor vehicle in this State and may exhibit a
mobile driver’s license when requested by a police officer or judge.
However, the bill specifies that a digital copy, photograph, or image
of a driver's license that is not issued by the commission as a mobile
driver’s license and downloaded on a mobile electronic
communication device, pursuant to the requirements of the
commission, is not a valid electronic form of a driver’s license. 2
COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS :
The committee amended the bill to:
(1) provide that a driver’s license may be displayed or provided in
either printed, hard-copy form or electronic form, rather than in either
paper or electronic form, when requested by a police officer or judge;
(2) provide that when a driver’s license is displayed in electronic
form, the license is to be presented in such a manner that there is no
requirement to display or relinquish possession of the person’s
electronic device;
(3) specify that the mobile driver’s license or mobile identification
card created by the commission is in addition to the printed, hard-copy
driver’s licenses and identification cards already issued by the
commission;
(4) remove a provision that provides that changes made to a
person’s motor vehicle record takes precedence over information
provided on a printed, hard-copy driver’s license and identification
card;
(5) specify that a digital copy, photograph, or image of a driver's
license that is not issued by the commission as a mobile driver’s
license and downloaded on a mobile electronic communication device
pursuant to the requirements of the commission is not a valid
electronic form of a driver’s license under the bill; and
(6) provide that the bill takes effect 36 months, rather than 72
months, after enactment.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Office of Legislative Services (OLS) finds that the State will
incur indeterminate start-up costs to create and issue mobile driver’s
licenses or identification cards, including the costs to design these
electronic documents and other costs associated with information
technology changes that such electronic documents will require.
Because the OLS is unable to predict how the program will be
implemented, does not have information about associated information
technology hardware and software costs, and notes that the bill will not
take effect until three years after enactment, the cost and revenue
estimates for the bill, as well as their timing, are indeterminate.
Beginning three years after the date of enactment, the bill would
also result in indeterminate costs for the issuance of the mobile
driver’s licenses or mobile identification cards as well as any
continuing information technology costs associated with the
maintenance of the mobile driver’s license or mobile identification
card system. These costs will be offset to a certain degree by annual
revenues collected by the Motor Vehicle Commission for the
electronic documents. The OLS is unable to determine the likely
amounts of these revenues because the bill gives the commission
discretion in setting fees for the mobile driver’s licenses or mobile
identification cards, so long as the fees are reasonable.