Bill would suspend dropouts’ licenses

SANTA FE – An effort to prohibit high school dropouts from legally driving in New Mexico was unanimously backed by the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 393, sponsored by Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, would allow the state Motor Vehicle Division to suspend driving privileges for students who drop out of school without parental consent from eighth through 12th grades. Dropouts with suspended driving privileges would not be allowed to legally drive again until they returned to school or turned 18.

“That’s one of the things that kids look forward to,” Brandt said of teen driving. “Right now in the truancy laws … there’s no consequence to students when they’re truant. All the consequences are on the parent, and so a lot of parents are saying, ‘What do we do? How do we keep our kids in school?’ ”

The bill would allow students who quit school to continue driving in cases of financial hardship or personal illness if parents consented and the student signed an acknowledgement that dropping out of high school diminishes an individual’s long-term personal earnings potential.

Students who drop out of school without meeting those requirements would be referred to the state Motor Vehicle Division, which would be required to hold a hearing within 20 days on whether to suspend the teen’s driving privileges.

For teens younger than 16, the suspension would mean dropouts could not receive a driver’s learning permit or license when they reach legal age.

After passing the Senate Education Committee with a bipartisan 9-0 vote Wednesday, the bill was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.

Sen. William Soules, D-Las Cruces, a teacher, said the legislation would likely be effective, noting that two things that grab the attention of high school students are members of the opposite sex and driving.

Meanwhile, Sen. Bill O’Neill, D-Albuquerque, also supported the legislation but voiced concern about how students with suspended driving privileges would return to school.

The bill also would create new reporting rules requiring schools to track students considered to be habitually truant after reaching 10 days of unexcused absences. Schools would be required to report those habitually truant students to the school district at least once a semester and report to the Public Education Department once a year.
— This article appeared on page A6 of the Albuquerque Journal