House Judiciary Committee advances bill to authorize mobile driver's licenses with built-in privacy protections

April 25, 2025 — The Alaska House Judiciary Committee voted April 25 to move House Bill 180, a measure authorizing issuance of mobile driver's licenses, from committee with attached fiscal notes.

Forrest Wolfe, legislative liaison for the Department of Administration, told the committee the bill would allow the commissioner to issue mobile IDs and include privacy and liability protections for law enforcement. "When they're receiving your mobile driver's license, they can't rifle through your phone or find anything else to use against you, in a legal sense," Wolfe said. He also said the bill includes a limited protection for an officer who accidentally damages a device while handling it, except where the damage was malicious or intentional.

The bill received no substantive questions from committee members after Wolfe's presentation. Representative John Copp moved that House Bill 180 (work order 34/GH1033 a) move from committee with attached fiscal notes. With no objection voiced, Chair Gray said the bill "moves from committee with attached fiscal notes." Committee paperwork for the bill was signed before adjournment.

Committee members did not record a roll-call vote in the hearing transcript; the committee advanced the bill by voice and unanimous consent at the time of the motion. The committee authorized legislative staff to affix any technical or conforming changes when preparing the file for the next stage.

The bill's next step is to proceed to the next committee or the floor docket as scheduled by the House leadership; the committee did not take further action on implementation details during the hearing.

The committee adjourned at 5:20 p.m.