2023 West Virginia Code › Chapter 17B. Motor Vehicle Driver's Licenses › Article 2. Issuance of License, Expiration and Renewal › §17B-2-3. What Persons May Not Be Licensed; Exceptions

(a) The division may not issue any license hereunder:
(1) To any person who is under the age of eighteen years: Provided, That the division may issue a junior driver's license on or after January 1, 2001, a graduated driver's license, to a person under the age of eighteen years in accordance with the provisions of section three-a of this article;
(2) To any person, as a Class A, B, C or D driver, who is under the age of eighteen years;
(3) To any person, whose license has been suspended or revoked, during the suspension or revocation;
(4) To any person who is an habitual drunkard or is addicted to the use of narcotic drugs;
(5) To any person, who has previously been adjudged to be afflicted with or suffering from any mental disability or disease and who has not at the time of application been restored to competency by judicial decree or released from a hospital for the mentally incompetent upon the certificate of the superintendent of the institution that the person is competent, and not then unless the commissioner is satisfied that the person is competent to operate a motor vehicle with a sufficient degree of care for the safety of persons or property;
(6) To any person who is required by this chapter to take an examination, unless the person has successfully passed the examination;
(7) To any person when the commissioner has good cause to believe that the operation of a motor vehicle on the highways by the person would be inimical to public safety or welfare.
(b) The division may not issue a license or nondriver identification card to any person required to register as a sexually violent predator pursuant to the provisions of article twelve, chapter fifteen, unless he or she obtains a driver's license or nondriver identification card coded by the commissioner to denote that he or she is a sexually violent predator as follows:
(1) If a person is judicially determined to be a sexually violent predator after the effective date of this section, the sentencing court shall order the person or the agency with custody of the person's driver's license or nondriver identification card to surrender said license or card to the court. The sentencing court shall forward to the division all driver's licenses or nondriver identification cards that it receives pursuant to this section, along with a copy of the sentencing order. If a person is registered as a sexually violent predator pursuant to section nine, article twelve, chapter fifteen of this code after the effective date of this section as amended and reenacted during the first extraordinary session of the 2006 Legislature, the person shall surrender their driver's license or nondriver identification card to the division within ten days of their registration with the State Police. Any replacement driver's license or nondriver identification card issued to the person under this section must be coded by the commissioner to denote the person is a sexually violent predator and shall be issued at no cost to the person.
(2) Within ten business days of the effective date of the amendments to this section made during the first extraordinary session of the 2006 Legislature, the State Police shall provide the division with the name, address and motor vehicle information of every person registered as a sexually violent predator in the state at that time and also provide notice to said registrants of the requirements set forth in said amendments. If a person is registered as a sexually violent predator prior to the effective date of this section, as amended and reenacted during the first extraordinary session of the 2006 Legislature, he or she shall surrender his or her driver's license or nondriver identification card to the division within ten business days of his or her receipt of the notice from the State Police required by said amendments. Any replacement driver's license or nondriver identification card issued to the person under this section must be coded by the commissioner to denote the person is a sexually violent predator and shall be issued at no cost to the person.
(c) Upon receipt of a driver's license or nondriver identification card from a sentencing court or individual pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the division shall cancel said license or card and note the cancellation in its records system so as to prevent the issuance of a replacement or duplicate license or card lacking the coded notation required by subsection (b) of this section.
(d) Upon showing proof that a person is no longer required to register as a sexually violent predator, the division shall, at no charge, issue a driver's license or nondriver identification card without the coded notation printed upon the license. No person issued a driver's license or nondriver identification card pursuant to the amendments to this section made during the first extraordinary session of the 2006 Legislature, may alter or deface the license or card to obscure the special marking identifying the holder as a sexually violent predator.
(e) Any person failing to comply with the provisions of subsections (b), (c) or (d) is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $50 nor more than $500 or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.