61-11-102. Records to be kept by department. (1) Except as provided in subsection (6), the department shall create and maintain a central database of electronic files that includes an individual Montana driving record for each person:
(a) who has been issued a Montana driver's license;
(b) who does not have a driver's license from, or active driving record in, another jurisdiction and for whom the department receives a report of conviction of a traffic violation or an offense requiring suspension or revocation of the person's driver's license; and
(c) whose driver's license or driving privileges have been suspended, revoked, canceled, or otherwise withdrawn by the department.
(2) (a) An individual Montana driving record maintained under this section must include:
(i) personal information obtained from the application for a driver's license or a report of conviction;
(ii) the person's driver's license number, license type, status, endorsements, restrictions, issue and expiration dates, and any suspensions, revocations, disqualifications, or cancellations that have been imposed against the person;
(iii) all convictions reported to the department for the person; and
(iv) traffic accidents in which the person was involved, except that a record of involvement in a traffic accident may not be entered on a licensee's record unless the licensee was convicted, as defined in 61-11-203, for an act causally related to the accident.
(b) If the department receives notice that a person has been disqualified by the federal motor carrier safety administration as an imminent hazard under 49 CFR 383.52, the department shall record the disqualification on the person's individual Montana driving record.
(c) The department shall retain records created under this section for a period of time that meets or exceeds the standards established under 49 CFR, part 384.
(3) The department is further authorized, upon receiving a record of the conviction in this state of a nonresident driver of a motor vehicle of any offense under the motor vehicle laws of this state, to forward, by electronic or other means, a report of the conviction to the motor vehicle administrator in the state in which the person is a resident or licensed.
(4) The department may place on a computer storage device the information contained on original records or reproductions of original records made pursuant to this section. Signatures on records are not required to be placed on a computer storage device.
(5) (a) Except as provided in subsection (5)(b), a reproduction of the information placed on a computer storage device is an original of the record for all purposes and is admissible in evidence without further foundation in all courts or administrative agencies when the reproduction of the information is signed by a named custodian of the record and the following certification appears on each page:
The individual named below, being a designated custodian of the driver records of the department of justice, motor vehicle division, certifies this document as a true reproduction, in accordance with 61-11-102(5), of the information contained in a computer storage device of the department of justice, motor vehicle division.
Signed:_________________________
(Print Full Name)
(b) An order, record, or paper generated from the department's central database of electronic files of individual Montana driving records may be certified electronically by the generating computer. The certification must be a certification of the order, record, or paper as it appeared on a specific date.
(c) A court, an office of a clerk of court, or an attorney licensed to practice law in this state may receive and use a computer-generated individual Montana driving record as evidence without further foundation when:
(i) the individual Montana driving record is electronically transmitted from the department's central database of electronic individual Montana driving records to a department-authorized terminal device maintained by the court, the office of the clerk of court, or the attorney; and
(ii) the judge, an officer of the court, or the attorney certifies that the record was not altered in any way.
(6) The department may remove any individual Montana driving record from the active database of electronic files maintained under this section if there has been no change in license status on or additional reports of conviction to the record in the immediately preceding 16 years. Any individual driving record removed must be retained elsewhere by the department as an inactive record in an electronic storage device that is searchable and retrievable.
History: En. Secs. 25, 27, Ch. 267, L. 1947; R.C.M. 1947, 31-141, 31-143(b); amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 503, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 503, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 76, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 19, Ch. 428, L. 2003; amd. Sec. 32, Ch. 428, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 119, Ch. 596, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 8, Ch. 41, L. 2009.
