HOUSE BILL NO. 2453 Offered January 10, 2007 Prefiled January 9, 2007 A BILL to amend and reenact § 46.2-300 of the Code of Virginia, relating to driving without a license; penalties. ---------- Patron-- Cline ---------- Committee Referral Pending ----------

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That § 46.2-300 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:

§ 46.2-300. Driving without license prohibited; penalties.

No person, except those expressly exempted in §§ 46.2-303 through 46.2-308, shall drive any motor vehicle on any highway in the Commonwealth until such person has applied for a driver's license, as provided in this article, satisfactorily passed the examination required by § 46.2-325, and obtained a driver's license, nor unless the license is valid.

Upon a conviction under this section, the court shall furnish to the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles in accordance with § 46.2-383 an abstract of the record of such conviction, which the Department shall maintain in the same manner as it maintains driving records. 

A conviction of a violation of this section shall constitute a Class 2 misdemeanor, except that a second violation within five years shall constitute a Class 1 misdemeanor and that a third or subsequent offense occurring within 10 years of the first conviction shall include a mandatory minimum term of confinement in jail of 10 days. However, the court shall not be required to impose a mandatory minimum term of confinement in any case where a motor vehicle is operated in violation of this section in a situation of apparent extreme emergency that requires such operation to save life or limb.