March 23, 2017
Enhanced driver’s license bill also becomes law…
With the stroke of his pen, Gov. Matt Bevin resolved a potentially troublesome issue for air travelers in Kentucky.
Bevin signed legislation into law that creates an enhanced driver’s license can be used as a source of identification to board commercial airline flights. Notification of the governor’s action was posted on the secretary of state’s website on Wednesday.
The new law allows Kentuckians to choose drivers’ licenses that meet the requirements of the federal Real ID Act, passed by Congress in 2005 to prevent terrorists from creating fakes to use as IDs.
Kentucky had been granted more time to address the issue, but were facing a June deadline.
If the new law had not been enacted, Kentuckians would have needed to present passports or other documentation approved by the U. S. Department of Homeland Security to board commercial airline flights or to enter federal facilities such as military bases.
Bevin vetoed a similar measure passed by lawmakers last year, saying “good governance demands the courtesy of time.”
Under the new law, an option is available for people to keep their standard drivers’ licenses that costs $43 or opt for the one that complies with federal requirements for $48 and that will be valid for eight years.
Anyone can opt to keep a standard driver’s license, said Republican state Rep. Jim DuPlessis of Elizabethtown, who sponsored the legislation. “But,” he said, “that person will have to take their standard driver’s license along with some supplemental ID that the federal government has approved.”
Schools encouraged to extend summer break under new law
A new Kentucky law will encourage school districts to delay the end of summer break to late August.
Bevin signed Senate Bill 50 into law, allowing allows local districts to lower the number of instructional days from 170 as long as the school year still consists of 1,062 instructional hours. It also provides that districts taking advantage of the provision cannot begin classes prior to the Monday closest to August 26.
Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer, who sponsored the bill, said it will benefit Kentucky’s tourism industry.
According to the Legislative Research Commission website, the governor signed the bill on Tuesday.
Major highway safety legislation signed into law
A highway safety issue sponsored by Sen. Dorsey Ridley, D-Henderson, to standardize the color of vehicle headlights and rear lights was signed into law Wednesday.
Ridley was able to get his idea to restrict modifications of vehicles with certain replacement headlights and other rear lights through the legislative process with compromise.
The new law, which will take effect on July 1, has been referred to as the biggest highway safety measure since the passage of the seatbelt law in Kentucky.
The issue was brought to Ridley’s attention by citizens and law enforcement officers from across the state.
“Several people complained to me about the super bright headlights and different colors on some vehicles and they were distracting. It was becoming a real safety issue. This distraction was presenting a real danger for drivers,” said Ridley, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee.
Ridley worked with local law enforcement officers, the Kentucky State Police, the Kentucky Justice Cabinet, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and other agencies across the state to get this issued resolved.
The new law will prohibit vehicles from:
· Emitting anything other than white light,
· Require all headlamps to meet US Department of Transportation regulations,
· Prohibit headlamps that appear to emit a solid color other than white,
· Prohibit headlamp covers or film that changes the color of the light emitted,
· Outline provisions for front and rear lighting of a vehicle, and
· Exempt original equipment lighting installed by the manufacturer.
Ridley said that this new law will not have any effect on the original equipment installed on cars and trucks by the manufacturer, but will only affect changing of the color of lights added after the vehicle is rolled off the assembly line.
By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
The LRC Public Information Office also contributed to this story
