Committee weighs H.549 changes as DMV seeks to issue "highest credential" to people leaving custody

The Corrections & Institutions committee on Feb. 12 discussed H.549, a bill that would extend eligibility for state non-driver identification cards to people detained in Department of Corrections facilities after six months in custody. Committee members and Department of Motor Vehicles officials debated whether to accept DMV's draft language, which would let DOC submit documentation so someone leaving custody receives the "highest credential that they are eligible for," potentially including a driver's license or permit rather than only a non-driver ID.

Nancy Prescott, director of operations at the Department of Motor Vehicles, told the committee, "Our language is proposing to change to get the individual the highest credential that they are eligible for, which could now include a license or a permit in addition to if they don't have eligibility for that, they would still get the non driver." She said DMV's intent is to give people leaving custody the credential that best supports reentry so they are not forced to return to a DMV office after release.

The bill as written would allow detainees who have served six months to receive a non-driver ID; DMV's draft (labelled draft 2.1 in committee materials) expands the practical outcome by clarifying whether the credential is a Real ID, non-Real ID, or, in some sentenced cases, a driver's license. Committee members pressed for clarity about several operational points: whether DOC will submit documents to DMV while an individual is still detained or hand documents to the person at release; which categories of people (sentenced inmates vs. detainees) qualify under DMV's draft; and how existing provisions that let sentenced people obtain replacement licenses would interact with the proposed language.

DOC facility operations manager Molly Sullivan said DOC can obtain critical identity documents for people in custody: "Department of Corrections can get a Social Security card ... and a birth certificate for anyone born in Vermont and have those 2 documents ready," which DOC could provide when a person is released so they can go to DMV to complete an application. DMV staff noted that the agency currently processes non-driver ID cards at DMV cost (about $3.30 per card) and said extending the existing non-driver ID process to detainees would be a "minimal impact in a positive direction," though it will require system updates.

Committee staff provided utilization numbers: between 2022 and the present, 188 detained individuals would have met the six-month eligibility threshold referenced in H.549, roughly 40 people per year. DMV asked the committee to allow an implementation window while it finishes modernization work; the transcript records DMV requesting an effective date of "01/01/1927," which committee members and staff treated as a transcription or typographical error and discussed as an intended date in 2027 to permit system changes.

Members also noted a separate DMV draft that addresses driver's-license replacement for people who were sentenced and who hold an unexpired Vermont license (or one expired no more than three years): that provision currently references sentenced inmates and, in DMV's version, does not include detainees. The committee requested legal counsel to reconcile statutory definitions—"inmate," "incarcerated individual," and "individual sentenced"—and agreed to finalize language before moving it forward. Committee staff said they will prepare a strike-all for H.549 to incorporate the agreed language and will also forward the DMV language to the Senate Transportation Committee so DMV's changes can be included in the omnibus DMV bill.

Next steps: the committee scheduled follow-up work and asked that legal counsel and relevant DOC and DMV staff be available at the next session (H.549 appeared on the House calendar for subsequent consideration).