CHEYENNE — The Transportation, Highways & Military Affairs Committee on Feb. 27 voted to advance a bill to label state driver licenses and identification cards issued to non‑U.S. citizens as “not a United States citizen,” and to move multiple effective and rulemaking dates to Jan. 1, 2026 to align with YDOT’s planned modernization.

Talise Hanson, LSO staff attorney, explained that bill draft 25LSO0259 would add language to driver licenses and identification cards indicating when the credential holder is not a U.S. citizen but has lawful status as defined by Title 6 §37.3 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The draft included staff options (not mandated) for additional language such as “not valid for official federal purposes” and for distinctive coloring of such credentials.

Taylor Rossetti and Misty Zimmerman of YDOT said the bill would not change the department’s verification process — Wyoming issues Real‑ID‑compliant credentials and verifies identity, lawful presence and residency before issuing a credential. Zimmerman described the PDF417 barcode on the back of the physical card as a snapshot of the printed card at issuance and said that YDOT’s modernization project, scheduled to go live next summer, is expected to enable a mobile driver’s license and better real‑time data by 2026.

Secretary of State testimony (remote) urged clearer wording on the credential to assist county election officials and election judges, and argued that the measure would strengthen front‑end protections for voter registration. Mary Langford, representing the County Clerk’s Association, testified that modernization will let clerks access up‑to‑date citizenship and residency information without redesigning credentials and that counties rarely see attempted noncitizen registrations in practice.

Committee debate focused on design details and implementation timing. Representative Pendergraft moved to change card color and add prominent orange text reading “noncitizen,” arguing that a color cue would better alert poll workers; members and YDOT staff explained that changing substrate color or the card’s embedded design would trigger a complete redesign and a vendor change request with commensurate cost. That motion failed. The committee instead voted to change the effective and rulemaking dates in the draft to Jan. 1, 2026 to give YDOT and county clerks time to complete modernization steps.

The committee carried the measure in a roll call vote as amended. Members asked YDOT to provide follow‑up figures on counts of current NR/noncitizen credentials and vendor cost estimates for any required personalization or substrate changes.

Representative quotes:
“The card is a snapshot of what is printed on the card at the time it was printed,” Misty Zimmerman said, describing the barcode and its information.

“Making this clearer is a step forward,” the Secretary of State said, urging language that makes it clear a credential holder is not eligible to register to vote.

Ending: The bill advances to the next stage with effective dates set for 2026, and staff will return with vendor cost estimates and data on the number of affected credentials.