TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A new Florida immigration law took effect July 1, addressing out of state licenses.
Numerous claims, both on Twitter and other news sites, note drivers licenses from five different states are no longer valid in Florida after the governor signed a new immigration law.
THE QUESTION
Does Florida's new immigration law ban all licenses from several states?
SOURCE
Florida Senate Bill 1718
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles
THE ANSWER
No, the new immigration law does not ban all licenses from several states.
WHAT WE FOUND
Florida's 2023 immigration bill invalidates driver licenses and permits issued exclusively to unauthorized immigrants.
Currently, the list of impacted states includes Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii and Vermont.
Those states issue specific classes of license that Florida no longer recognizes as valid. For example, Connecticut issues some licenses marked with a D-O, or drive only, which means they are not considered a legal form of ID and can't be used for voting, travel or banking purposes.
The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles published a list of the affected licenses by state - they all include phrases like "driving privilege only" or "limited purpose driver's license."
You can view the list of banned licenses here: https://www.flhsmv.gov/driver-licenses-id-cards/visiting-florida-faqs/.
Standard drivers' licenses from those states are still valid in Florida.
The National Conference of State Legislatures lists nineteen states and D.C. offer some form of licenses to unauthorized immigrants.
However, the Florida Department of Highway Safety only lists four as banned at this point.
The Department of Highway Safety points out the list of affected states may change depending on the laws in other states when it comes to issuing licenses.
In fact, Rhode Island has already been removed from list since the law went into effect at the beginning of July.