Introduced by Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan, Senate Bill 17-20 goes back to the House of Representatives.
One of the Senate amendments will allow a 15-year-old student to obtain learner’s permit after being trained by licensed 21-year-old driver
With Sen. Henry H. San Nicolas, Covenant-Tinian absent, all the eight senators voted to pass S.B. 17-20.
The bill does not suspend the driver education program created by Public Law 15-25 but it will allow BMV to “compete” with the privately owned Driver Training Academy in Susupe.
S.B. 17-20 will require driver’s license applicants to pay $40. The current fee is $30.
Fifty percent of the fees collected will go to BMV; 35 percent will be allotted for the maintenance of road shoulders; and 15 percent will be allotted to street lights.
The DPS commissioner will have expenditure authority over 50 percent of the fees collected.
Rich Puhalla, the owner of Driver Training Academy, said establishing an education program at BMV “will be a challenge because there is no precedent” for it.
Usually, he said, classroom and laboratory instructions are not offered by a government-run driver education program.
