Mafnas said the student driver education program is in “the best interest of the commonwealth.”
Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes, R-Saipan and the author of the law, also attended the meeting.
P.L. 17-45 was enacted after the House and the Senate overrode Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s veto.
Fitial said BMV doesn’t have the resources to run a driver education program which, he added, may also expose the government to liabilities should accidents occur with a student driver.
But lawmakers said first-time drivers and their parents were complaining about the $350 tuition charged by the island’s lone driving school.
The law allows first-time drivers not to attend the driving school.
Rep. Raymond D. Palacios, Covenant-Saipan and chairman of the House Committee on Education, said the law will not compromise driver’s education.
In a letter to BMV, Rep. Stanley T. McGinnis Torres, Ind.-Saipan, clarified important aspects of the new law.
Torres, who assisted Reyes in the drafting of the legislation, said it “does not mandate that BMV immediately implement a driver education program.”
He said the law “permits all new drivers to not have to enroll or pay for a driver education program (whether commercial, certified, private or public schools) if they so desire.”
P.L. 17-45 also increases the driver’s license fee from $30 to $40.
The law amends P.L. 15-25 or the Mandatory Driver Education Act of 2006, which was passed by lawmakers after some members of the community expressed concern about road accidents involving young and nonresident motorists who did not undergo driver education.
