
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994                   TAG: 9406190071
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

PROOF OF VA. RESIDENCY NOW NEEDED TO GET DRIVER'S LICENSE

A new law requiring driver's license applicants to prove their residency has been made so broad by the Department of Motor Vehicles that it may be ineffective, a legislator said.

Beginning July 1, the DMV will require license applicants to provide a document to prove their residency. The purpose is to make it more difficult for people from other states to get a Virginia driver's license and purchase a gun, said Del. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg.

The problem, Newman said, is there are too many documents an applicant can use.

There are 13 eligible documents, including a payroll check or payroll check stub issued by an employer within two months of the application, a voter registration card, a bank statement not more than two months old, a Virginia vehicle registration card or title, a utility bill and a transcript from a school or a college or university in which the applicant is currently enrolled.

If applicants do not have one of the 13 documents, a Virginia resident with a valid license or photo identification card can accompany them to the DMV. That person will be asked to verify that the applicant is a Virginia resident by signing a DMV residency form. The form will be notarized by a public notary or witnessed by a DMV employee.

To purchase a gun in Virginia, a person must show two forms of identification. One form must be a picture identification card or a driver's license issued by the state with a Virginia address.

The legislation passed by the 1993 General Assembly was part of a package of bills aimed at stopping the illegal purchase of guns. The DMV determined which documents would be accepted to prove residency, not the General Assembly, Newman said.

"We tried to make it as customer friendly as possible," said Daisy Dulick, manager for the DMV's licensing service division. She said the document list was created by a group of seven DMV administrators and reviewed by the attorney general's office, and a public hearing was held before the final list was determined.

Former Republican Del. Steven Agee of Roanoke, sponsor of a similar bill that died in 1992, said most of the regulations the DMV has issued are similar to what was planned.

Both Newman and Agee said it would be easy for a person who is not a resident of the state to get someone to say he or she is a resident.

The plan was for a 16-year-old new driver who wouldn't have utility bills yet, or any of the other documents required by the DMV, to be able to have a parent or guardian verify residency, Agee said.

Besides driver's license applicants, the new law also applies to applicants for a commercial driver's license, an instruction permit or photo identification card.

by CNB