Request By:
Mrs. Ken Deputy
Route 16
Box 141
Bowling Green, Kentucky 42101
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to the Attorney General dated February 20, 1980 you inquire as to how an 18-year-old man who is an Indo-Chinese refugee in this country under I-94 status, "permanent resident alien", can prove his age for the purpose of obtaining a drivers license. You state that under Kentucky law a person must show proof of age in one of three ways: baptismal or birth certificate or passport.
There is no Kentucky law or regulation requiring a person to prove his age for a drivers license in any way other than by his own sworn statement. KRS 186.412 (1) reads as follows:
"Every person seeking a license for operation of a motor vehicle or a non-driver identification card shall apply in person to the circuit court clerk of the county in which he resides and make application upon a form furnished by the department. The application shall contain the full name and signature, date of birth, sex, and present resident address of the applicant and briefly describe him. It shall also state whether the applicant has previously been licensed as an operator and if so, when and by what state or county, whether any license has ever been cancelled, suspended, revoked or refused, and if so, the date of and reason for the cancellation, suspension, revocation or refusal, and such other information as may be required."
The duties of the circuit clerk in regard to issuing drivers licenses are set forth in KRS 186.490 and one of the duties is to "administer the oath required by KRS 186.412 to the applicant without fee."
The duties of the State Police in regard to the issuance of drivers licenses are set forth in KRS 186.480. The State Police are to examine the applicant and the examination may include a test of the applicant's eyesight, his ability to read and understand highway signs regulating, warning and directing traffic, his knowledge of traffic laws and an actual demonstration of ability to exercise ordinary and reasonable control in the operation of a motor vehicle. The State Police cannot require proof of birth date.
In summary, a person's application as provided by KRS 186.412 which is signed and sworn to before the circuit clerk is all that is required for proof of age as to obtaining a drivers license.