Safety, Dept. of

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on costs or resource availability.

Blue Envelope for Drivers with Disabilities

This bill requires Tennessee's Department of Safety to create and distribute blue envelopes containing essential documents for drivers with intellectual or developmental disabilities.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Department of Safety to design a blue envelope that holds important driving documents like licenses, registrations, and contact cards for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
• Includes communication guidelines on the exterior of the blue envelope to help police officers understand how to interact with drivers who have these disabilities.
• Allows individuals with such disabilities to request the blue envelopes starting January 1, 2027, from driver services centers or county clerk's offices.
• Gives the Department of Safety permission to make rules about this new program.

Who It Names or Affects

• Drivers with intellectual or developmental disabilities
• Law enforcement officers who interact with these drivers
• The Tennessee Department of Safety

Terms To Know

Developmental Disability

A severe, chronic disability that appears before age 22 and affects major life activities.

Intellectual Disability

Significantly below-average intellectual functioning with related limitations in daily living skills.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much the blue envelopes will cost or who will pay for them.
• It is unclear if there are enough resources to ensure every driver services center and county clerk's office can provide these envelopes starting January 1, 2027.

Official Summary Text

This bill requires the department of safety ("department") to develop and design a blue envelope to hold the essential documents of a driver with an intellectual or developmental disability, such as a driver license, vehicle registration, and contact car
d. The blue envelope must include communication guidelines on the exterior tailored to assist law enforcement in recognizing and adapting their approach when interacting with the driver. A person with such a disability may request such an envelope begin
ni
ng on January 1, 2027, from a driver services center or county clerk's office.

"DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY" AND "INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY" DEFINED

As used in this bill, a "developmental disability" means a severe, chronic disability of an individual over five that (i) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of mental and physical impairments; (ii) manifested before age 22;
(iii) is likely to continue indefinitely; (iv) results in substantial functional limitations in major life activities; and (v) reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special interdisciplinary or generic services, supports, or other
as
sistance. An "intellectual disability," as used in this bill, means substantial limitations in functioning as shown by significantly sub-average intellectual functioning that exists concurrently with related limitations in communication, self-care, home
living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure, and work.

RULEMAKING

This bill authorizes the department to promulgate rules to effectuate this bill.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1802
By Lamar

HOUSE BILL 1714
By Shaw
HB1714
011098
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38;
Title 52 and Title 55, relative to persons with
disabilities.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 55, Chapter 21, is amended by adding
the following as a new part:
55-21-401. Definitions.
As used in this part, "developmental disability" and "intellectual disability" have
the same meanings as in § 52-1-101.
55-21-402. Development of blue envelope.
(a) The department of safety shall develop and design for a driver with a
developmental or intellectual disability a blue envelope that holds the driver's essential
documents, including a driver license, vehicle registration, and contact card. 55-21-403.
(b) The blue envelope, as described in subsection (a), must include
communication guidelines on the exterior that are tailored to assist a law enforcement
officer in recognizing and adapting the officer's approach when interacting with a driver
with a developmental or intellectual disability.
55-21-404. Requesting a blue envelope.
(a) Beginning on January 1, 2027, a person with a developmental or intellectual
disability may request a blue envelope from a driver services center or county clerk's
office.

- 2 - 011098

(b) The department of safety shall ensure blue envelopes are made available
pursuant to this section in each driver services center and county clerk's office in this
state.
55-21-405. Rules.
The department of safety is authorized to promulgate rules to effectuate this part.
The rules must be promulgated in accordance with the Uniform Administrative
Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5.
SECTION 2. The headings in this act are for reference purposes only and do not
constitute a part of the law enacted by this act. However, the Tennessee Code Commission is
requested to include the headings in any compilation or publication containing this act.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.