1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to drivers' licenses; allowing parents to 
  1.3             provide home-school instruction to children in 
  1.4             classroom component of driver education; amending 
  1.5             Minnesota Statutes 1998, sections 171.05, subdivision 
  1.6             2; and 171.39. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 171.05, 
  1.9   subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 2.  [PERSON LESS THAN 18 YEARS OF AGE.] (a) 
  1.11  Notwithstanding any provision in subdivision 1 to the contrary, 
  1.12  the department, upon application therefor, may issue an 
  1.13  instruction permit to an applicant who is 15, 16, or 17 years of 
  1.14  age and: 
  1.15     (1) is enrolled in a driver education program including 
  1.16  classroom and behind-the-wheel training, which has been approved 
  1.17  by the state board of education for courses offered through the 
  1.18  public schools, or, in the case of a course offered by a 
  1.19  private, commercial driver education school or institute, by the 
  1.20  department of public safety;, except when the applicant has 
  1.21  completed a course of driver education in another state or has a 
  1.22  previously issued valid license from another state; or is 
  1.23  receiving full-time instruction in a home-school within the 
  1.24  meaning of sections 120A.22 and 120A.24, as certified by the 
  1.25  superintendent of the district in which the applicant resides, 
  1.26  is working toward a home-school diploma, and is enrolled in an 
  2.1   approved behind-the-wheel driver education program; 
  2.2      (2) has completed the classroom phase of instruction in the 
  2.3   driver education program or in the case of a home-school 
  2.4   student, has completed home classroom driver training with 
  2.5   classroom materials approved by the commissioner of public 
  2.6   safety; 
  2.7      (3) has passed a test of the applicant's eyesight; 
  2.8      (4) has passed a test of the applicant's knowledge of 
  2.9   traffic laws, which test must be administered by the department; 
  2.10     (5) has completed the required application, which must be 
  2.11  approved by (i) either parent when both reside in the same 
  2.12  household as the minor applicant or, if otherwise, then (ii) the 
  2.13  parent or spouse of the parent having custody or, in the event 
  2.14  there is no court order for custody, then (iii) the parent or 
  2.15  spouse of the parent with whom the minor is living or, if items 
  2.16  (i) to (iii) do not apply, then (iv) the guardian having custody 
  2.17  of the minor or, in the event a person under the age of 18 has 
  2.18  no living father, mother, or guardian, then (v) the applicant's 
  2.19  employer; provided, that the approval required by this clause 
  2.20  contains a verification of the age of the applicant and the 
  2.21  identity of the parent, guardian, or employer; and 
  2.22     (6) has paid the fee required in section 171.06, 
  2.23  subdivision 2. 
  2.24     (b) The instruction permit is valid for one year from the 
  2.25  date of application and may be renewed upon payment of a fee 
  2.26  equal to the fee for issuance of an instruction permit under 
  2.27  section 171.06, subdivision 2. 
  2.28     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 171.39, is 
  2.29  amended to read: 
  2.30     171.39 [EXEMPTIONS.] 
  2.31     The provisions of sections 171.33 to 171.41 shall not apply:
  2.32  to any person giving driver training lessons without charge,; to 
  2.33  employers maintaining driver training schools without charge for 
  2.34  their employees only,; to a home-school within the meaning of 
  2.35  sections 120A.22 and 120A.24; to schools or classes conducted by 
  2.36  colleges, universities and high schools as a part of the normal 
  3.1   program for such institutions,; nor to those schools or persons 
  3.2   described in section 171.05, subdivision 2.  Any person who is a 
  3.3   certificated driver training instructor in a high school driver 
  3.4   training program may give driver training instruction to persons 
  3.5   over the age of 18 without acquiring a driver training school 
  3.6   license or instructor's license, and such instructors may make a 
  3.7   charge for that instruction, if there is no private commercial 
  3.8   driver training school licensed under this statute within 10 
  3.9   miles of the municipality where such instruction is given and 
  3.10  there is no adult drivers training program in effect in the 
  3.11  schools of the school district in which the trainee resides.