Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman MICHELE MATSIKOUDIS
District 21 (Morris, Somerset and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Requires MVC to accept certain documents as proof of name change for driver’s license.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning certain proofs of name change for driver’s licenses and amending P.L.1987, c.20.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 2 of P.L.1987, c.20 (C.39:3-9a) is amended to read as follows:
2. Each driver’s license issued pursuant to R.S.39:3-10 shall have the legal name of the licensee endorsed thereon in [his] the licensee’s own handwriting.
For purposes of this section, legal name shall mean the name recorded on a:
(1) birth certificate [unless otherwise changed by] ;
(2) marriage [,] certificate;
(3) social security card;
(4) divorce decree; or
(5) order of court.
The [director may] chief administrator shall require that only the legal name be recorded on the driver’s license. A person who has been issued a driver’s license pursuant to R.S.39:3-10 whose legal name is changed due to marriage, divorce, or by order of court shall notify the [director] chief administrator of the change in legal name within [two weeks] six months after the change is made or upon the next renewal of the driver license, whichever date is sooner.
A person who fails to notify the [Director of the Division of Motor Vehicles] chief administrator of a change in legal name as required in this section shall be subject to a fine. A person who is fined under this section for a violation of this section shall not be subject to a surcharge under the [New Jersey Merit Rating Plan] Motor Vehicle Violations Surcharge System as provided in section 6 of P.L.1983, c.65 (C.17:29A-35).
For the purposes of this section, a digitized signature image shall constitute a licensee’s signature in [his] the licensee’s own handwriting. A digitized signature image is an electronic representation of a person’s written signature.
(cf: P.L.1999, c.28, s.1)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) to accept a licensee’s birth certificate, marriage certificate, social security card, divorce decree, or court order as sufficient proof of the licensee’s legal name for display on the driver’s license. The bill also extends the time period that a licensee has to change the licensee’s name with the MVC from two weeks after a legal name change to six months after a legal name change or upon the next driver’s license renewal, whichever date is sooner.
It is the sponsor’s intent to remove the barriers to changing a licensee’s legal name on a driver’s license that have been created by the MVC. The MVC does not currently permit a licensee to change the middle name of a licensee’s legal name, as a result of marriage, without a court order, despite the fact that the Social Security Administration and many other states allow this change.