Veh. Code, § 13005.5 · Article 5. Identification Cards
Veh. Code, § 13005.5
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) (1) An identification card issued to any person shall bear a fullface engraved picture or photograph of the person.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, the department shall not, unless requested by the applicant, distribute or sell the applicant’s picture or photograph or any information pertaining to the applicant’s physical characteristics to any private individual, other than the applicant, or to any firm, copartnership, association, or corporation. This paragraph does not apply to any private business entity that contracts with the department for the production of driver’s licenses and identification cards, if the contract prohibits the unauthorized use and disclosure of the information.
(b) (1) An identification card issued pursuant to Section 13000 shall bear a notice that the identification card is issued only as a means of identification and does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration, or public benefits.
(2) In the next scheduled revision of the identification card on or after January 1, 2023, the notice requirement specified in paragraph (1) shall be replaced by the following notice requirement:
(A) A Real ID identification card, as described in Section 681, shall bear a notice including, but not limited to, that the identification card is issued only as a means of identification, and that it does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration, or public benefits.
(B) An identification card that is not a Real ID identification card, as described in Section 681, shall bear a notice including, but not limited to, that the identification card is issued only as a means of identification, it does not establish eligibility for employment, firearms purchases, voter registration, or public benefits, and that it is not acceptable for official federal purposes.
(c) This section shall become inoperative on the date the department notifies the Legislature that the driver’s license has been revised to include the notices specified in subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and is repealed on January 1 of the following year.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 482, Sec. 12. (AB 1766) Effective January 1, 2023. Conditionally inoperative as prescribed by its own provisions. Repealed conditionally by its own provisions. See later operative version added by Sec. 13 of Stats. 2022, Ch. 482.
Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel
Section conditionally operative by its own provisions.
(a) (1) An identification card issued to any person shall bear a fullface engraved picture or photograph of the person.
(2) Notwithstanding any other law, the department shall not, unless requested by the applicant, distribute or sell the applicant’s picture or photograph or any information pertaining to the applicant’s physical characteristics to any private individual, other than the applicant, or to any firm, copartnership, association, or corporation. This paragraph does not apply to any private business entity that contracts with the department for the production of driver’s licenses and identification cards, if the contract prohibits the unauthorized use and disclosure of the information.
(b) (1) A Real ID identification card, as described in Section 681, shall bear a notice including, but not limited to, that the identification card is issued only as a means of identification, and that it does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration, or public benefits.
(2) An identification card that is not a Real ID identification card, as described in Section 681, shall bear a notice including, but not limited to, that the identification card is issued only as a means of identification, it does not establish eligibility for employment, firearms purchases, voter registration, or public benefits, and that it is not acceptable for official federal purposes.
(c) This section shall become operative on the date the department notifies the Legislature that the identification card has been revised to include the notices specified in subdivision (b).
History (another version listed by the Legislative Counsel)
Repealed (in Sec. 12) and added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 482, Sec. 13. (AB 1766) Effective January 1, 2023. Section conditionally operative by its own provisions.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=VEH§ionNum=13005.5.
- Text hash
- sha256 06ebb382dde6899c8ee0b19f3fec98a5d427063565ac419e44092dad640b2528
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
- the Legislative Counsel lists 2 versions of this section; the version shown is the one in force by its history, the other is under "Another version listed by the Legislative Counsel" (conditional)
- the version shown operates conditionally by its own provisions (its history says so)
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