ESHB 1635 -
By Committee on Transportation
ADOPTED AS AMENDED 04/09/2011
Strike everything after the enacting clause and insert the following:
"NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 It is the intent of the legislature to
utilize the infrastructure and resources of the commercial driver
training schools and the school districts' traffic safety education
programs by authorizing these entities to provide driver licensing
examinations. The legislature intends for the department of licensing
to authorize the administration of driver licensing examinations by
these entities in order to maintain and reprioritize its staff for the
purpose of reducing the wait times at its driver licensing offices.
Further, the legislature recognizes the growing importance of the
work performed by department of licensing driver licensing services
employees, who play an increasingly vital role in our security by
ensuring that applicants are properly issued identification.
Sec. 2 RCW 28A.220.030 and 2000 c 115 s 9 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The superintendent of public instruction is authorized to
establish a section of traffic safety education, and through such
section shall: Define a "realistic level of effort" required to
provide an effective traffic safety education course, establish a level
of driving competency required of each student to successfully complete
the course, and ensure that an effective statewide program is
implemented and sustained, administer, supervise, and develop the
traffic safety education program and shall assist local school
districts in the conduct of their traffic safety education programs.
The superintendent shall adopt necessary rules and regulations
governing the operation and scope of the traffic safety education
program; and each school district shall submit a report to the
superintendent on the condition of its traffic safety education
program: PROVIDED, That the superintendent shall monitor the quality
of the program and carry out the purposes of this chapter.
(2) The board of directors of any school district maintaining a
secondary school which includes any of the grades 10 to 12, inclusive,
may establish and maintain a traffic safety education course. If a
school district elects to offer a traffic safety education course and
has within its boundaries a private accredited secondary school which
includes any of the grades 10 to 12, inclusive, at least one class in
traffic safety education shall be given at times other than regular
school hours if there is sufficient demand therefor.
(3) The board of directors of a school district, or combination of
school districts, may contract with any drivers' school licensed under
the provisions of chapter 46.82 RCW to teach the laboratory phase of
the traffic safety education course. Instructors provided by any such
contracting drivers' school must be properly qualified teachers of
traffic safety education under the joint qualification requirements
adopted by the superintendent of public instruction and the director of
licensing.
(4) The superintendent shall establish a required minimum number of
hours of continuing traffic safety education for traffic safety
education instructors. The superintendent may phase in the requirement
over not more than five years.
(5) School districts that offer a traffic safety education program
under this chapter may administer the portions of the driver licensing
examination that test the applicant's knowledge of traffic laws and
ability to safely operate a motor vehicle as authorized under RCW
46.20.120(7). The superintendent shall work with the department of
licensing, in consultation with school districts that offer a traffic
safety education program, to develop standards and requirements for
administering each portion of the driver licensing examination that are
comparable to the standards and requirements for driver training
schools under section 6 of this act.
(6) Before a school district may provide a portion of the driver
licensing examination, the school district must, after consultation
with the superintendent, enter into an agreement with the department of
licensing that sets forth an accountability and audit process that
takes into account the unique nature of school district facilities and
school hours and, at a minimum, contains provisions that:
(a) Allow the department of licensing to conduct random
examinations, inspections, and audits without prior notice;
(b) Allow the department of licensing to conduct on-site
inspections at least annually;
(c) Allow the department of licensing to test, at least annually,
a random sample of the drivers approved by the school district for
licensure and to cancel any driver's license that may have been issued
to any driver selected for testing who refuses to be tested; and
(d) Reserve to the department of licensing the right to take prompt
and appropriate action against a school district that fails to comply
with state or federal standards for a driver licensing examination or
to comply with any terms of the agreement.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3 A new section is added to chapter 46.01 RCW
to read as follows:
A civil suit or action may not be commenced or prosecuted against
the director, the state of Washington, any driver training school
licensed by the department, any other government officer or entity,
including a school district or an employee of a school district, or
against any other person, by reason of any act done or omitted to be
done in connection with administering the portions of the driver
licensing examination that test the applicant's knowledge of traffic
laws and ability to safely operate a motor vehicle. This section does
not bar the state of Washington or the director from bringing any
action, whether civil or criminal, against any driver training school
licensed by the department.
Sec. 4 RCW 46.20.120 and 2005 c 314 s 306 and 2005 c 61 s 2 are
each reenacted and amended to read as follows:
An applicant for a new or renewed driver's license must
successfully pass a driver licensing examination to qualify for a
driver's license. The department ((shall give)) must ensure that
examinations are given at places and times reasonably available to the
people of this state. If the department does not administer driver
licensing examinations as a routine part of its licensing services
within a department region because adequate testing sites are provided
by driver training schools or school districts within that region, the
department shall, at a minimum, administer driver licensing
examinations by appointment to applicants eighteen years of age and
older in at least one licensing office within that region.
(1) Waiver. The department may waive:
(a) All or any part of the examination of any person applying for
the renewal of a driver's license unless the department determines that
the applicant is not qualified to hold a driver's license under this
title; or
(b) All or any part of the examination involving operating a motor
vehicle if the applicant:
(i) Surrenders a valid driver's license issued by the person's
previous home state; or
(ii) Provides for verification a valid driver's license issued by
a foreign driver licensing jurisdiction with which the department has
an informal agreement under RCW 46.20.125; and
(iii) Is otherwise qualified to be licensed.
(2) Fee. Each applicant for a new license must pay an examination
fee of twenty dollars.
(a) The examination fee is in addition to the fee charged for
issuance of the license.
(b) "New license" means a license issued to a driver:
(i) Who has not been previously licensed in this state; or
(ii) Whose last previous Washington license has been expired for
more than five years.
(3) An application for driver's license renewal may be submitted by
means of:
(a) Personal appearance before the department; or
(b) Mail or electronic commerce, if permitted by rule of the
department and if the applicant did not renew his or her license by
mail or by electronic commerce when it last expired. ((However, the
department may accept an application for renewal of a driver's license
submitted by means of mail or electronic commerce only if specific
authority and funding is provided for this purpose by June 30, 2004, in
the omnibus transportation appropriations act.))
(4) A person whose license expired or will expire while he or she
is living outside the state, may:
(a) Apply to the department to extend the validity of his or her
license for no more than twelve months. If the person establishes to
the department's satisfaction that he or she is unable to return to
Washington before the date his or her license expires, the department
shall extend the person's license. The department may grant
consecutive extensions, but in no event may the cumulative total of
extensions exceed twelve months. An extension granted under this
section does not change the expiration date of the license for purposes
of RCW 46.20.181. The department shall charge a fee of five dollars
for each license extension;
(b) Apply to the department to renew his or her license by mail or,
if permitted by rule of the department, by electronic commerce even if
subsection (3)(b) of this section would not otherwise allow renewal by
that means. If the person establishes to the department's satisfaction
that he or she is unable to return to Washington within twelve months
of the date that his or her license expires, the department shall renew
the person's license by mail or, if permitted by rule of the
department, by electronic commerce.
(5) If a qualified person submits an application for renewal under
subsection (3)(b) or (4)(b) of this section, he or she is not required
to pass an examination nor provide an updated photograph. A license
renewed by mail or by electronic commerce that does not include a
photograph of the licensee must be labeled "not valid for
identification purposes."
(6) Driver training schools licensed by the department under
chapter 46.82 RCW may administer the portions of the driver licensing
examination that test the applicant's knowledge of traffic laws and
ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.
(7) School districts that offer a traffic safety education program
under chapter 28A.220 RCW may administer the portions of the driver
licensing examination that test the applicant's knowledge of traffic
laws and ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.
Sec. 5 RCW 46.20.515 and 2003 c 41 s 3 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) The motorcycle endorsement examination must emphasize maneuvers
necessary for on-street operation, including emergency braking and
turning as may be required to avoid an impending collision.
(2) The examination for a two-wheeled motorcycle endorsement and
the examination for a three-wheeled motorcycle endorsement must be
separate and distinct examinations emphasizing the skills and maneuvers
necessary to operate each type of motorcycle.
(3) The department may authorize an entity that has entered into a
contract under RCW 46.20.520 to administer the motorcycle endorsement
examination.
(4) The department may waive all or part of the examination for
persons who satisfactorily complete the voluntary motorcycle operator
training and education program authorized under RCW 46.20.520 or who
satisfactorily complete a private motorcycle skills education course
that has been certified by the department under RCW 46.81A.020.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 A new section is added to chapter 46.82 RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Driver training schools may administer the portions of the
driver licensing examination that test the applicant's knowledge of
traffic laws and ability to safely operate a motor vehicle as
authorized under RCW 46.20.120(6).
(2) The director shall adopt rules to regulate the administration
of the knowledge and driving portions of the driver licensing
examination. The rules must include, but are not limited to, the
following provisions:
(a) Limitations or requirements that determine which driver
training schools may administer the knowledge portion of the
examination;
(b) Limitations or requirements that determine which driver
training schools may administer the driving portion of the examination;
(c) Requirements for the content and method of conducting the
examinations to ensure consistency with industry practices;
(d) Requirements for recordkeeping;
(e) A requirement that all driver training school employees
conducting driver licensing examinations meet the same qualifications
and education and training standards as department employees who
conduct such examinations, to the extent necessary to conduct the
written and driving skills portions of the examinations;
(f) Requirements related to whether a driver training school staff
member may provide both driver training instruction and the driver
licensing examination to any one student;
(g) Requirements for retesting and expiring examination results;
(h) Limitations on fees that may be charged by driver training
schools for administering the knowledge portion of the examination and
the driving portion of the examination. The examination fees must be
limited to an amount that does not exceed the amount that is sufficient
for driver training schools to recover the costs of administering each
examination;
(i) Requirements for the department to monitor outcomes for
applicants who take a driver licensing examination through a driver
training school and to make the outcomes available to the public;
(j) Requirements for annual auditing, which must include the
collection of current information regarding insurance, curriculums,
instructors' names and licenses, and a selection of random student
files to review for accuracy; and
(k) Sanctions for violations of the rules adopted under this
section.
(3) Before a driver training school may provide a portion of the
driver licensing examination, it must enter into an agreement with the
department that, at a minimum, contains provisions that:
(a) Allow the department to conduct random examinations,
inspections, and audits without prior notice;
(b) Allow the department to conduct on-site inspections at least
annually;
(c) Allow the department to test, at least annually, a random
sample of the drivers approved by the driver training school for
licensure and to cancel any driver's license that may have been issued
to any driver selected for testing who refuses to be tested; and
(d) Reserve to the department the right to take prompt and
appropriate action against a driver training school that fails to
comply with state or federal standards for a driver licensing
examination or to comply with any terms of the agreement.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 In communications facilitating the
transition to driver training schools and school districts
administering portions of the driver licensing examination, the
department of licensing shall include at least one representative from
each stakeholder group, including the superintendent of public
instruction, driver training schools, the unions representing licensing
services representatives, and the Washington state school directors'
association."
ESHB 1635 -
By Committee on Transportation
ADOPTED AS AMENDED 04/09/2011
On page 1, line 2 of the title, after "offices;" strike the remainder of the title and insert "amending RCW 28A.220.030 and 46.20.515; reenacting and amending RCW 46.20.120; adding a new section to chapter 46.01 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 46.82 RCW; and creating new sections."
EFFECT: Removes the fee increase and extended expiration period of the driver's license and identicard. Language creating the advisory committee is replaced with language requiring DOL to include all stakeholders in communications regarding the transition to driver training schools and school districts administering portions of the driver licensing examination.