2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 56 - Motor Vehicles › Chapter 1 - Driver's License › Section 56-1-140. Issuance of license; necessary fees, signature, and contents; veteran designation.

(A) Upon payment of a fee of twenty-five dollars for a license that is valid for eight years, the department shall issue to every qualified applicant a driver's license as applied for by law. The license must bear on it a distinguishing number assigned to the licensee, the full name, date of birth, residence address, a brief description and unobstructed photograph of the licensee's face, any marking otherwise required or in compliance with law, and a facsimile of the signature of the licensee. No license is valid until it has been so signed by the licensee. The license authorizes the licensee to operate only those classifications of vehicles as indicated on the license.
(B) An applicant for a new, renewed, or replacement driver's license may apply to the department to obtain a veteran designation on the front of his driver's license by providing a:
(1) United States Department of Defense discharge certificate, also known as a DD Form 214, that shows a characterization of service, or discharge status of "honorable" or "general under honorable conditions" and establishes the person's qualifying military service in the United States armed forces;
(2) National Guard Report of Separation and Record of Service, also known as an NGB Form 22, that shows a characterization of service, or discharge status of "honorable" or "general under honorable conditions" and establishes the person's qualifying military service of at least twenty years in the National Guard; or
(3) Veterans Identification Card (VIC) or a letter from a Military Reserve component notifying the recipient of the person's eligibility for retirement pay at age sixty (twenty-year letter). A Veterans Health Identification Card (VHIC) may not be accepted.
(C) The department may determine the appropriate form of the veteran designation on the driver's license authorized pursuant to this section.
(D) The fees collected pursuant to this section must be credited to the Department of Transportation State Non-Federal Aid Highway Fund.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 46-163; 1952 Code Sections 46-156, 46-160, 46-163; 1942 Code Sections 5984, 5985, 5992; 1932 Code Sections 5984, 5985, 5992; 1930 (36) 1057; 1947 (45) 74; 1959 (51) 421; 1965 (54) 649; 1974 (58) 2349; 1976 Act No. 738 Section 10; 1985 Act No. 201, Part II, Section 86A; 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, Section 55B; 2003 Act No. 51, Section 12; 2005 Act No. 176, Section 6, eff June 14, 2005; 2012 Act No. 147, Section 1, eff April 23, 2012; 2016 Act No. 275 (S.1258), Section 11, eff July 1, 2016; 2017 Act No. 6 (H.3358), Section 4, eff April 5, 2017; 2019 Act No. 86 (H.3789), Section 3, eff November 24, 2019; 2022 Act No. 148 (H.4319), Section 2, eff May 11, 2022.
Effect of Amendment
2017 Act No. 6, Section 4, rewrote the section, revising the cost and frequency of the renewal period for a driver's license, revising the content of a driver's license, and eliminating the fee associated with the placement of a veteran designation on a driver's license.
2019 Act No. 86, Section 3, rewrote (B), revising the documents that must be provided to the Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain a veteran designation on a driver's license, inserted the (C) identifier in the undesignated paragraph following (B), and redesignated (C) as (D).
2022 Act No. 148, Section 2, in (A), in the second sentence, substituted "unobstructed photograph of the licensee's face" for "laminated colored photograph of the licensee".