I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1895 
To provide driver safety grants to States with graduated driver licensing 
laws that meet certain minimum requirements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 2, 2009 
Mr. BISHOP of New York (for himself and Mr. CASTLE) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Transportation and 
Infrastructure 
A BILL 
To provide driver safety grants to States with graduated 
driver licensing laws that meet certain minimum require-
ments. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Safe Teen and Novice 
Driver Uniform Protection Act of 2009’’ or the 
‘‘STANDUP Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
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(1) The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-
ministration has reported that— 
(A) motor vehicle crashes are the leading 
cause of death of Americans between 15 and 20 
years of age; 
(B) from 1995 to 2006, over 76,000 Amer-
icans between the 15 and 20 years of age died 
in motor vehicle crashes, an average of 122 
teenage deaths per week; 
(C) teenage drivers between 16 and 20 
years of age have a fatality rate that is 4 times 
the rate for drivers between 25 and 70 years of 
age; and 
(D) teenage drivers who are 16 years of 
age have a motor vehicle crash rate that is al-
most ten times the crash rate for drivers be-
tween 30 and 60 years of age. 
(2) According to the American Automobile As-
sociation, teenage drivers comprise slightly more 
than 1⁄3 of all fatalities in motor vehicle crashes in 
which they are involved and nearly 2⁄3 of all fatalities 
in those crashes are other drivers, passengers, and 
pedestrians. 
(3) According to the Insurance Institute for 
Highway Safety, the chance of a crash by a 16- or 
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17-year-old driver is doubled if there are 2 peers in 
the vehicle and quadrupled with 3 or more peers in 
the vehicle. 
(4) According to the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, the cognitive distraction 
caused by hands free and hand-held cellular phones 
is significant enough to degrade a driver’s perform-
ance, particularly teenage drivers between 15 and 20 
years of age. 
(5) Although only 20 percent of driving by teen-
age drivers occurs at night, more than 50 percent of 
the motor vehicle crash fatalities involving teenage 
drivers occur at night. 
(6) In 1997, the first full year of its graduated 
driver licensing system, Florida experienced a 9 per-
cent reduction in fatal and injurious crashes among 
teenage drivers between the ages of 15 and 18, com-
pared with 1995, according to the Insurance Insti-
tute for Highway Safety. 
(7) The Journal of the American Medical Asso-
ciation reports that crashes involving 16-year-old 
drivers decreased between 1995 and 1999 by 25 per-
cent in Michigan and 27 percent in North Carolina. 
Comprehensive graduated driver licensing systems 
were implemented in 1997 in these States. 
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(8) In California, according to the Automobile 
Club of Southern California, teenage passenger 
deaths and injuries resulting from crashes involving 
16-year-old drivers declined by 40 percent from 
1998 to 2000, the first 3 years of California’s grad-
uated driver licensing program. The number of at- 
fault collisions involving 16-year-old drivers de-
creased by 24 percent during the same period. 
(9) The National Transportation Safety Board 
reports that over 40 States and the District of Co-
lumbia have implemented 3-stage graduated driver 
licensing systems. Many States have not yet imple-
mented other basic safety features of graduated 
driver licensing laws to protect the lives of teenage 
and novice drivers. 
(10) A 2001 Harris Poll indicates that— 
(A) 95 percent of Americans support a re-
quirement of 30 to 50 hours of practice driving 
with and adult; 
(B) 92 percent of Americans support a 6- 
month learner’s permit period; and 
(C) 74 percent of Americans support lim-
iting the number of teenage passengers in a car 
with a teenage driver and supervised driving 
during high-risk driving periods, such as night. 
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SEC. 3. STATE GRADUATED DRIVER LICENSING LAWS. 
(a) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—A State is in compliance 
with this section if the State has a graduated driver 
licensing law that includes, for novice drivers under 
the age of 21, a 2-stage licensing process described 
in paragraph (2) before granting an unrestricted 
driver’s license. 
(2) LICENSING PROCESS.—To comply with the 
required licensing process, a State shall enact licens-
ing requirement that includes— 
(A) a learner’s permit stage that— 
(i) commences at age 16 years of age 
or older; 
(ii) is at least 6 months in duration; 
(iii) prohibits the use of a cellular 
telephone or any communications device in 
a non-emergency situation; 
(iv) prohibits nighttime driving; and 
(v) is in effect until the commence-
ment of the intermediate stage or until a 
driver becomes 18 years of age or older; 
(B) an intermediate stage that is in effect 
until a driver is 18 years of age or older that— 
(i) commences immediately after the 
expiration of the learner’s permit stage; 
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(ii) is at least 6 months in duration; 
(iii) prohibits operating a motor vehi-
cle with more than one non-familial pas-
senger under the age of 21 if there is no 
licensed driver 21 years of age or older 
present in the motor vehicle; 
(iv) prohibits nighttime driving; and 
(v) prohibits the use of a cellular tele-
phone or any communications device in 
non-emergency situations; and 
(3) any other requirement that the Secretary of 
Transportation (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Sec-
retary’’) may require, including for novice drivers in 
the learner’s permit stage— 
(A) at least 40 hours of behind-the-wheel 
training with a licensed driver who is over 21 
years of age; 
(B) a driver training course; 
(C) a requirement that any such driver be 
accompanied and supervised by a licensed driver 
21 years of age or older at all times when such 
driver is operating a motor vehicle; and 
(D) a requirement that, in addition to any 
other penalties imposed by State law, the grant 
of an unrestricted driver’s license be automati-
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cally delayed for any individual who is convicted 
of an driving-related offense, such as driving 
while intoxicated, misrepresentation of their 
true age, reckless driving, unbelted driving, 
speeding, or other violations as determined by 
the Secretary, during the learner’s and inter-
mediate stages of the licensing process. 
(b) RULEMAKING.—After public notice and comment 
rulemaking the Secretary shall issue regulations necessary 
to implement this section. 
SEC. 4. INCENTIVE GRANTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—For each of the first 3 fiscal years 
beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
retary shall award a grant to any State in compliance with 
section 3(a) on or before the first day of that fiscal year 
that submits an application under subsection (b). 
(b) APPLICATION.—Any State desiring a grant under 
this section shall submit an application to the Secretary 
at such time, in such manner, and containing such infor-
mation as the Secretary may require, including a certifi-
cation by the Governor of the State that the State is in 
compliance with section 3(a). The Secretary shall review 
each State application and determine whether or not the 
State is in compliance with subsection 3(a). 
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(c) GRANTS.—For such fiscal year described in sub-
section (a), amounts appropriated to carry out this section 
shall be apportioned to each State in compliance with sec-
tion 3(a) in an amount determined by multiplying— 
(1) the amount appropriated to carry out this 
section for such fiscal year; by 
(2) the ratio that the amount of funds appor-
tioned to each such State for such fiscal year under 
section 402 of title 23, United States Code, bears to 
the total amount of funds apportioned to all such 
States for such fiscal year under such section. 
(d) USE OF FUNDS.—Amounts received from a grant 
under this section shall be used for— 
(1) enforcement of section 3(a); 
(2) training for law enforcement personnel and 
other relevant State agency personnel relating to the 
enforcement of section 3(a); 
(3) publishing relevant educational materials 
that pertain directly or indirectly to the State grad-
uated driver licensing law; and 
(4) other administrative activities that the Sec-
retary considers relevant to the State graduated 
driver licensing law. 
(e) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated out of the Highway 
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Trust Fund (other than the Mass Transit Account) 
$25,000,000 for each fiscal year under section 4(a) to 
carry out this section. 
SEC. 5. WITHHOLDING OF FUNDS FOR NONCOMPLIANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.— 
(1) FISCAL
YEAR
2011.—The Secretary shall 
withhold 3 percent of the amount otherwise required 
to be apportioned to any State for fiscal year 2011 
under each of the paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 
section 104(b) of title 23, United States Code, if the 
State is not in compliance with section 3(a) of this 
Act on October 1, 2010. 
(2) FISCAL
YEAR
2012.—The Secretary shall 
withhold 5 percent of the amount otherwise required 
to be apportioned to any State for fiscal year 2012 
under each of the paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of 
section 104(b) of title 23, United States Code, if 
that State is not in compliance with section 3(a) of 
this Act on October 1, 2011. 
(3) FISCAL YEAR 2013 AND THEREAFTER.—The 
Secretary shall withhold 10 percent of the amount 
otherwise required to be apportioned to any State 
for fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2013 under 
each of the paragraphs (1), (3), and (4) of section 
104(b) of title 23, United States Code, if that State 
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is not in compliance with section 3(a) of this Act on 
the first day of such fiscal year. 
(b) PERIOD
OF
AVAILABILITY
OF
WITHHELD 
FUNDS.— 
(1) FUNDS
WITHHELD
ON
OR
BEFORE
SEP-
TEMBER 30, 2012.—Any amount withheld from any 
State under subsection (a) on or before September 
30, 2012, shall remain available for distribution to 
the State under subsection (c) until the end of the 
third fiscal year following the fiscal year for which 
such amount is appropriated. 
(2) FUNDS WITHHELD AFTER SEPTEMBER 30, 
2012.—Any amount withheld under subsection (a)(2) 
from any State after September 30, 2012, may not 
be distributed to the State. 
(c) APPORTIONMENT OF WITHHELD FUNDS AFTER 
COMPLIANCE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—If, before the last day of the 
period for which funds withheld under subsection (a) 
remain available to a State under subsection (b), the 
State comes into compliance with section 3(a), the 
Secretary shall, on the first day on which the Sec-
retary determines the State has come into compli-
ance, distribute to the State any amounts withheld 
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