Mobile driver’s licenses could soon be coming to N.J.

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Efforts are underway to allow New Jersey residents to carry an electronic version of their driver’s license if they want one. But it could be a while before that becomes reality.

State Senator Pat Diegnan, the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said his proposal directs the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission to create and issue a mobile driver’s license that could be carried on a cellphone, tablet, or any device with internet capability.

“It would allow a driver to show on their phone, their driver’s license to a police officer or a judge if they can’t locate their regular driver’s license,” he said.

He explained that the MVC would be required to create a very secure electronic driver’s license that would give drivers control over how much information is shared for different purposes.

“You use your driver’s license for a lot more than, thank God, showing it to a police officer or a judge,” he said. “Hopefully, that doesn’t happen too often, but you also use it at the pharmacy, you use it at your doctor’s office.”

Tracy Noble, the public affairs manager for AAA Club Alliance, said digital licenses are a good idea.

“When you think about what you grab when you leave the house, you grab your keys, your phone, it would be nice to have those documents on our phone as well,” she said.

She said having a license that offers privacy control options for users makes sense.

“Does a store that needs to verify age need to know your home address, not necessarily,” said Noble.

Diegnan said high-tech security must be a top priority when developing mobile licenses.

“The QR code, how is that going to be secure, how is it going to be that someone else can’t hack into it,” he asked. “It’s the security issue that really is the challenge, and we have to be certain we get that right.”

The Senate version of the legislation states the MVC would not begin to issue the mobile licenses until six years after the measure is enacted, but Diegnan said it won’t take nearly that long. “We didn’t want to have to be coming back in two years if in fact it [the creation of the license] hadn’t been done, but I mean everybody is optimistic that in a maximum of two years this will be the law,” he said.

In 2016, the MVC conducted a ‘Mobile Driver’s License Feasibility Study,’ which found that almost 70% of Garden State residents would be willing to pay extra to get a digital driver’s license. Noble pointed out that 11 other states already offer these licenses, and several other states have legislation in the works.

“This is not the future, this is the present,” said Diegnan. “We want to bring New Jersey up to present-day standards but at the same time keep it secure.”

The Senate Transportation Committee approved the measure, which will now be reviewed by the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Diegnan hopes the full Upper House will vote on it sometime in May, before a state budget is hammered out in June.