AN ACT to provide ACCOMMODATIONS for driver education coursework interrupted by school closures in the spring semester of 2020 and to require the division of motor vehicles to temporarily waive the road test requirement.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  Notwithstanding G.S. 115C‑215(b)(1), (2), (4), and (5) and G.S. 115C‑216, and the requirements of State Board of Education Policy DRIV‑0004, for students enrolled in classroom driver education between January 2020 and March 16, 2020, in a public school or a licensed commercial driver training school, students shall be deemed to have completed all classroom instruction requirements for driver education if the student completed at least 15 hours of classroom instruction prior to March 16, 2020. A student who has not completed at least 15 hours of classroom instruction may be offered the opportunity to take and pass the proficiency examination developed by the Department of Public Instruction, as provided in the State Board of Education Policy DRIV‑0004, to waive the classroom instruction requirement. All students enrolled in driver education in the spring semester of 2020 shall be required to complete a minimum of six hours of behind‑the‑wheel instruction before being issued a North Carolina Driver Education Completion Certificate. Public schools are authorized to resume driver education programs in accordance with guidance issued by the Department of Public Instruction.

SECTION 2.(a)  Notwithstanding G.S. 20‑11(d)(3), the Division of Motor Vehicles shall waive the requirement that an applicant pass a road test in order to obtain a limited provisional license if the applicant meets all other requirements for the limited provisional license.

SECTION 2.(b)  This section expires when the Division resumes administering regularly scheduled road tests but no later than 180 days from the effective date of this act.

SECTION 3.(a)  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Transportation, Division of Motor Vehicles, the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2020‑2021 fiscal year to develop and maintain a list of those individuals issued a limited provisional license following waiver of the road test, as provided in Section 2 of this act.

SECTION 3.(b)  This section becomes effective July 1, 2020.

SECTION 4.  Except as otherwise provided, this act is effective when it becomes law.