Question: Please clarify the situation with Hawaii driver’s licenses in Florida. On TV I saw a regular license, but I’m sure that’s not correct. We going to Florida later this summer, and we are renting a car.
Answer: Florida’s Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has listed Hawaii’s limited-purpose driver’s license as invalid in that state; only about 1% of Hawaii’s licensed drivers, or 10,323 people, hold that type of license, according to the state Department of Transportation.
Standard Hawaii driver’s licenses are not affected by the Florida law, which is aimed at undocumented immigrants, including those who are driving in Florida with an out-of-state license that did not require the holder to prove they are in the United States legally.
Hawaii is among about 20 states that issue licenses to undocumented immigrants so they can drive legally to work, school and other activities. Hawaii’s limited-purpose driver’s license states on its face that it is “not acceptable for official federal purposes,” and it does not carry the star mark signifying compliance with the U.S. REAL ID Act. It does not establish eligibility for employment, voter registration or public benefits. The state has said since it started issuing them in 2016 that drivers should not assume they are valid for driving outside Hawaii.
Still, it’s unclear why, as of Thursday, the FHSMV had listed only the limited-purpose driver’s licenses issued by Hawaii and four other small states (Connecticut, Delaware, Rhode Island and Vermont) as invalid in Florida, when much larger states also issue licenses to undocumented immigrants, including California.
The Florida law seems aimed at states that issue a certain type of driver’s license “exclusively” to undocumented immigrants, but Hawaii’s limited-purpose driver’s license isn’t restricted to that group.
Any driver in Hawaii can seek this type of license, rather than a standard, federally compliant “gold star” license, which requires the applicant to have a Social Security number, and provide acceptable documents proving legal U.S. presence, legal name, birth date and Hawaii residency. Applicants for the limited-purpose license need only prove the latter three: name, birth date and Hawaii residency.
Federal law dictates that a person may hold only one state-issued REAL ID at a time. We’ve heard from seniors born in the U.S. who chose to get a limited-purpose driver’s license so they could renew their Hawaii state ID, which is federally compliant (carries the star mark) and is valid for eight years, double the length of a kupuna license. Under the Florida law it seems that any driver using Hawaii’s limited-purpose license could get a ticket for driving without a valid license if they are pulled over in that state, regardless of their legal status in the U.S.
We are following up with FHSMV and with Hawaii’s Attorney General Department for more information. Attorney General Anne Lopez issued the following statement Thursday: “Hawai‘i law provides for the issuance of limited purpose driver’s licenses to protect vulnerable people who may not have the documentation available to obtain a REAL ID driver’s license under federal law. Such vulnerable people include the elderly, the homeless, immigrants, victims of human trafficking, and survivors of gender-based violence. The lack of a license disproportionately impacts women and leads to numerous societal ills. Hawai‘i has a long history of protecting the rights of immigrants. The Department of the Attorney General is aware of and is considering Florida’s law, which appears to be rooted in a desire to harm vulnerable people without any semblance of compassion.”
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
