By Luke Tucker for WBTV
RALEIGH, N.C. (WBTV) – A new law in North Carolina is designed to make getting a driver’s license easier for young drivers, and could shorten lines at DMV offices across the state.
The law — which began as Senate Bill 245 — was signed by Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The new law primarily brings changes to two areas:
- The process of obtaining a full provisional license
- Allows for two consecutive online license renewals under certain conditions
On social media, Gov. Stein wrote Tuesday afternoon that the law will shorten lines at the DMV.
Regarding getting a full provisional license, drivers who are either 16 or 17 years old can now get one online, as long as they have previously had a limited provisional license for at least six months. Prior to the new law, drivers in North Carolina could only be issued a full provisional license in person.
One of the key differences between “limited” and “full” provisional licenses — sometimes called “after-nines” — is that drivers with full privileges can drive unsupervised at all times of the day, while those with limited can only drive without supervision from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., although there are some exceptions.
In addition to allowing for online issuance of full provisional licenses, the new law also eliminates the need for logged hours to get the full license. The law used to say that for a driver to get a full license, they had to have 12 hours of logged drive time — including six hours at night — while they held a limited license. State law still requires drivers to log 60 hours to get their limited license.
Aside from changing how young drivers can get their full provisional licenses, the new law also allows for consecutive online license renewals drivers in the following cases:
- The license being renewed is not REAL ID compliant
- The license being renewed is REAL ID compliant, but is being converted to a non-REAL ID license
If the license being renewed is REAL ID compliant, it still has to be renewed in person every other time, and during that in-person renewal, the holder must take a new picture.
Before the new law, licenses could not be renewed online two times in a row, regardless of if they were REAL ID or not.
All changes took effect immediately after Gov. Stein signed the law.
A full copy of the law can be read here.
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