Law Also Applies to Immediate Family Members of Active Duty Military
(TRENTON) – Legislation Assembly members Wayne DeAngelo, Joseph Lagana and Elizabeth Maher Muoio sponsored to authorize driver’s license renewal extension to active duty military personnel and their immediate family members was signed into law on Tuesday.
“This law will alleviate another unnecessary worry for military on active duty and their family,” said DeAngelo (D-Mercer and Middlesex). “Their duty and service should not interrupt their driving privilege if it doesn’t have to. We can extend the renewal period and keep the current reduced fee with this bill.”
The new law (A-4323) authorizes an active duty member of any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, and any person in the member’s immediate family, to renew a driver’s license or non-driver identification card during the six months preceding the scheduled date of the member’s deployment. In addition, the driver’s license or non-driver identification card of any active duty. A person renewing a driver’s license or non-driver identification card under the bill would submit proof of the member’s deployment, as determined by the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC).
“Our servicemen and women make countless sacrifices for their country,” said Lagana (D-Bergen and Passaic). “An opportunity to renew their driver’s license does not need to be one of them. Our job is to help make their lives as worry-free as possible while they serve and protect our country.”
“Overseas deployment can make it difficult for military families to perform basic resident tasks such as renewing a driver’s license or personal identification,” said Muoio (D-Mercer and Hunterdon). “We can, with this legislation, make it a little easier for our service women and men to keep their MVC identification current while away on duty. This is simply one way we can begin to repay New Jersey’s military residents for the innumerable sacrifices they make to preserve democracy here and around the world.”
Prior to the law, the MVC provided certain active duty military personnel with an automatic driver’s license extension while deployed, which is valid for up to 90 days after demobilization. However, this extension is only granted to members active in certain specified military operations and is not available to any spouse or other immediate family members. The law would allow any active duty member of the Armed Forces and the member’s immediate family to be eligible for an extension of a valid driver’s license.
MVC policy currently provides for a reduced driver’s license fee at the time of renewal. The new law will continue this policy.
The measure was released by the Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on May 11 and it cleared the full Assembly in July, 76-0. The Senate approved the measure 39-0.