Bill to Require Alphanumeric Driver Licenses Becomes Law

A bill to require an alphanumeric sequence rather than computer-generated numbers for Oklahoma driver licenses or identification cards has been signed by Gov. Brad Henry. Sen. Clark Jolley is principal author of the measure.

“We’ve approved legislation in recent years to help deal with the problem of criminal identity theft. This measure addresses the accidental problems that may occur when a person or business confuses a driver’s license number and social security number,” explained Jolley, R-Edmond

Senate Bill 24 will require the Department of Public Safety to issue driver licenses or identification cards with a sequence that contains both numbers and letters to help eliminate confusion with social security numbers.

The measure was co-authored by Rep. Thad Balkman, R-Norman who explained it was a very real problem.

“I know an individual whose driver license number happened to exactly match another person’s social security number. It wasn’t a case of criminal identity theft at all but it still could have caused significant credit problems. Having a combination of letters and numbers will help prevent such confusion in the future,” Balkman said.

The new law will go into effect as of January 1, 2007.