SENATE FILE 317

BY  SODDERS

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the examination requirements for an applicant for a noncommercial driver’s license.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  Section 321.178, subsection 1, paragraph c, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   c.  Every public school district in Iowa shall offer or make available to all students residing in the school district or Iowa students attending a nonpublic school in the district an approved course in driver education. The receiving district shall be the school district responsible for making driver education available to a student participating in open enrollment under section 282.18. The courses may be offered at sites other than at the public school, including nonpublic school facilities within the public school districts. An approved course offered during the summer months, on Saturdays, after regular school hours during the regular terms or partly in one term or summer vacation period and partly in the succeeding term or summer vacation period, as the case may be, shall satisfy the requirements of this section to the same extent as an approved course offered during the regular school hours of the school term. A student who successfully completes and obtains certification in an approved course in driver education or an approved course in motorcycle education may, upon proof of such fact, be excused from any field test which the student would otherwise be required to take in demonstrating the student’s ability to operate a motor vehicle. A student shall not be excused from any field test if a parent, guardian, or instructor requests that a test be administered. A final field test prior to a student’s completion of an approved course shall be administered by a person qualified as a classroom driver education instructor and certified to provide street and highway driving instruction. A person qualified as a classroom driver education instructor but not certified to provide street and highway driving instruction may administer the final field test if accompanied by another person qualified to provide street and highway driving instruction.
   Sec. 2.  Section 321.186, subsection 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  The department may shall examine every new applicant for a driver’s license or and may examine any person holding a valid driver’s license when the department has reason to believe that the person may be physically or mentally incompetent to operate a motor vehicle, or whose driving record appears to the department to justify the examination. The department shall make every effort to accommodate a functionally illiterate applicant when the applicant is taking a knowledge test. The department shall make every effort to have an examiner conduct the commercial driver’s license driving skills tests at other locations in this state where skills may be adequately tested when requested by a person representing ten or more drivers requiring driving skills testing.
   Sec. 3.  Section 321.188, subsection 2, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   An Notwithstanding section 321.186, an applicant for a commercial driver’s license may substitute for a driving skills test the applicant’s operating record and previous passage of a driving skills test or the applicant’s operating record and previous driving experience if all of the following conditions exist:
EXPLANATION
   Under current law, the department of transportation is authorized to examine every person who applies for a driver’s license, as well as any person holding a valid driver’s license when the department has reason to believe the person may be physically or mentally incompetent to drive or whose driving record appears to justify the examination. The department can waive examination requirements for a new resident who has a valid driver’s license from another state. In addition, the department can waive the driving skills test for a student who successfully completes an approved driver’s education course. This bill requires the department to fully examine every applicant for a noncommercial driver’s license.
   Pursuant to current law, an examination for a driver’s license includes a test of the applicant’s eyesight, a test of the applicant’s ability to read and understand highway signs, a test of the applicant’s knowledge of traffic laws, a demonstration of the applicant’s ability to exercise ordinary and reasonable control in the operation of a motor vehicle, and any other physical or mental examinations the department deems necessary to determine an applicant’s fitness to operate a motor vehicle safely.
   Under the bill, an applicant for a commercial driver’s license may continue to substitute for a driving skills test the applicant’s operating record and previous passage of an equivalent driving skills test or the applicant’s operating record and previous driving experience.