HB 1317 – VERSION ADOPTED BY BOTH BODIES
2014 SESSION
06/03
HOUSE BILL 1317
AN ACT relative to driver education.
SPONSORS: Rep. Burridge, Ches 16; Rep. Crawford, Carr 4
This bill:
I. Modifies requirements for driver education.
II. Deletes certain references to the department of education regarding driver education.
This bill was requested by the department of safety.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
14-2514
06/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT relative to driver education.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Driver Education. Amend RSA 263:19, I to read as follows:
I. A driver’s license may be issued subject to the provisions of this chapter to a person under the age of 18 years who has attained his or her sixteenth birthday, if such person shall present a certificate of successful completion of a driver education course given by a public or nonpublic secondary school and approved by the department of education in cooperation with the department of safety or given by a motor vehicle drivers’ school licensed under the provisions of this chapter. An approved driver education course[, whether conducted by a secondary school or by a school] licensed under this chapter, shall consist of [both] not less than 30 hours of classroom instruction [and], not less than 10 hours of behind the wheel driver training [of not less than 10 hours] and not less than 6 hours of observation, in accordance with rules adopted pursuant to RSA 541-A, published [jointly] by the commissioner of [education and the commissioner of] safety, such standards to be not less than those presently required. The classroom instruction shall include 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized motorcycle safety education course approved by the director and 45 minutes of a nationally-recognized tractor-trailer safety education and awareness course approved by the director. The department of safety, by the nature of its function, shall be held ultimately responsible for setting and maintaining the quality standards for driver education in the state[, aided and facilitated by the department of education]. This authority shall apply uniformly over both secondary school courses and private motor vehicle drivers’ school courses.
2 License Required; Driver Education. Amend RSA 263:44 to read as follows:
263:44 License Required; Fee, Term, Renewal. No person shall engage in the business of conducting a drivers’ school without being licensed therefor by the department. Application therefor shall be in writing and contain such information therein as the department shall require. If the application is approved, the applicant shall be granted a license upon the payment of a fee of $200; provided, however, that no license fee shall be charged for the issuance of a license to any board of education, school board, public, private, or parochial school, which conducts a course in driver education[, approved by the state department of education]. A license so issued shall be valid during the calendar year. The annual fee for renewal shall be $100. The department shall issue a license certificate or license certificates to each licensee, one of which shall be displayed in each place of business of the licensee. In the case of loss, mutilation or destruction of a certificate, the department shall issue a duplicate upon proof of the facts and the payment of a fee of $1.
3 Grounds for Denial of License; Certificate of Insurance. Amend RSA 263:50, VII to read as follows:
VII. The application is not accompanied by a [copy of a standard liability insurance policy] certificate of insurance endorsing a combined single limit for each accident in the amount of [$100,000 for personal injury to, or death of, any one person and, subject to said amount for one person, $300,000 for personal injury to, or death of, more than one person involved in any one accident, and $50,000 for property damage in any one accident,] $500,000 suffered or caused by reason of negligence of the applicant or any agent or employee of the applicant, approved as to form and coverage by the director and issued by a company duly licensed to transact business in this state under the insurance laws of this state; or
4 Drivers’ School; Definition. Amend RSA 259:26 to read as follows:
259:26 Drivers’ School. “Drivers’ school” shall mean the business of giving instruction, for compensation, in the [driving] operation of motor vehicles [and], motorcycles, and commercial motor vehicles. “Drivers’ school” shall not include a business or other person giving advanced instruction, with or without compensation, when the instruction is not intended to meet the requirements of basic driver training under RSA [263:44 through RSA 263:51] 263:19 and the instruction is given only to licensed drivers who already hold a license for the class of vehicle for which they are being trained.
5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.