Obtaining and renewing North Carolina driver’s licenses may soon get easier.
The North Carolina House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 109 to 7 to pass House Bill 245, which would allow North Carolinians to renew their driver’s licenses online more frequently and ease a law requiring new drivers to document their driving practice hours and submit logs to the state. The bill now goes to the state Senate for consideration.
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State Rep. Reece Pyrtle, R-Rockingham, introduced the bill to reduce pressure on the Division of Motor Vehicles, which has struggled with long wait times and appointment availability due in part to understaffing. Pyrtle said the bill, if enacted, would save the DMV hundreds of thousands of in–person visits.
Pyrtle said his bill would also automatically renew people’s driver’s licenses if they go to the DMV and secure a REAL ID.
“If you have a valid driver's license now and you go in to get your REAL ID, they take your picture and you get your REAL ID — but your expiration doesn't change,” Pyrtle said. “With this bill, the day you get your picture taken, it creates a new expiration date, and that counts as an in person visit, and that driver's license is good for eight years.”
State officials — including lawmakers and DMV leaders — have already taken some steps this year to relieve pressure on the division. For instance, Pyrtle’s bill comes less than a month after Gov. Josh Stein signed a law allowing some drivers to keep their expired licenses for another two years.
Under the bill, drivers would be able to renew their North Carolina license online two times in a row if they obtained a new photo ID during their most recent visit to the DMV. Additionally, the bill would ease requirements for young drivers who are on the path to getting their full license.
Currently, the law requires drivers between the ages of 16 and 18 to go through a two-step process. First, they must drive for 60 hours and submit that log to the state. Then, they must drive an additional 12 hours and submit another log to the state.
The bill would eliminate the need for those drivers to submit the 12-hour log, but not the 60-hour log.
If parents or guardians believe their young driver isn’t ready for a license yet, they can simply decline to take them to the DMV for a license, said state Rep. Zack Hawkins, D-Durham.
“We are a state of almost 11 million people,” Hawkins said. “We, especially in our urban areas and suburban areas, are seeing people come from out of state. And I know all of us get these inquiries about how to get a DMV spot and how to make it easier. This bill moves us in the right direction.”
Industry stakeholders had mixed reactions to the bill's proposals.
Savannah Gregory, who owns the Raleigh-based Drivers of the Future driving school, said she worries that eliminating some of the logging requirements could make the roads more dangerous.
"We have an epidemic of unprepared drivers in 2025," Gregory told WRAL. "Anything that we can do to make that process more thorough and hold everyone accountable and responsible for each part of that system is our best method for adapting to the roads in this day and age."
Joe Stewart, vice president of governmental affairs with the Independent Insurance Agents of North Carolina, said a parent's judgement is more important than the state's paperwork. and board chair of the
"Having it chronicled in that way probably isn't as important as making sure that parents and guardians of young motorists are just deliberately helping their young people learn to be more effective drivers by getting them experience," said Stewart, who also chairs the North Carolina Alliance for Safe Transportation, a nonprofit organization that promotes safe driving.
He added: "Insurance rates are less likely to go up for a young person if they're getting the experience necessary to avoid being in an accident or speeding or some other reckless behavior that might result in higher insurance rates."