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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
license; driver; nonoperating; medical indicia
Purpose
Effective January 1, 2027, requires the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to use a medical indicator, rather than a medical code, to identify a licensee who has an advanced health care directive that must be reaffirmed upon renewal. Adds a civilian bystander to the persons immune from liability for identifying a patient and allows a medical indicator to be relied on for the identification.
Background
ADOT must provide on each driver license and on each nonoperating identification license a space where a licensee may indicate an adverse medical condition, if the licensee presents a signed statement from a licensed physician or a registered nurse practitioner stating that the person suffers from the condition. ADOT must prescribe by rule a medical code to identify medical conditions using a system of numerals or letters commonly accepted by the medical profession. ADOT may not maintain the medical code of a person as part of the computer record after the driver or nonoperating identification license is issued without the person's written request to keep the code on the record (A.R.S. § 28-3167). ADOT and the state are exempt from liability for damages from the use of medical code information provided on a driver license or nonoperating license (A.R.S. § 28-3167).
With good cause, ADOT may issue a restricted driver license with restrictions suitable to the licensee's driving ability for the type of motor vehicle or special mechanical control devices required on a motor vehicle that the licensee may operate (A.R.S. § 28-3159). A health care directive is a document that includes a mental health power of attorney and deals with a person's future health care decisions (A.R.S. § 36-3201).
Emergency medical system personnel, hospital emergency department personnel and direct care staff persons who make a good faith effort to identify the patient and who rely on an apparently genuine directive or a photocopy of a directive on orange paper are immune from criminal and civil liability and are not subject to professional discipline (A.R.S. § 36-3251).
The Joint Legislative Budget Committee estimates that H.B. 2772 could increase administrative costs for ADOT, but a specific cost estimate cannot be made without agency input (JLBC fiscal note).
Provisions
1. Requires ADOT to provide on each driver license and on each nonoperating identification license a space where a licensee may indicate that the licensee has an advanced health care directive, including a health care power of attorney, a prehospital medical care directive, a living will or a mental health care power of attorney.
2. Requires the licensee to affirm to ADOT at each renewal of the driver or nonoperating identification license that:
a) an advanced health care directive, a prehospital medical care directive, a living will or a mental health care power of attorney remains in effect for the licensee; and
b) the medical indictor remains in effect for the licensee.
3. Prohibits, except for the purposes of entering the medical indicator on a driver or nonoperating identification license, ADOT from maintaining any provided document in ADOT's computer records after ADOT issues the license.
4. Removes the authorization for a person to affirmatively request in writing that the person wants a medical code as part of ADOT's computer record.
5. Specifies that ADOT is not required to accept or interpret medical care directives that do not meet the statutory requirements for living wills and health care directives.
6. Removes the requirement for ADOT to prescribe by rule a medical code to identify medical conditions using a system of numerals or letters commonly accepted by the medical profession.
7. Modifies the immunity from liability granted to persons who make a good faith effort to identify a patient and who rely on a directive to include:
a) civilian bystanders as persons with immunity; and
b) relying on a medical indicator on the patient's driver license or nonoperating identification license for the identification.
8. Modifies the definition of medical or disability information to be a restriction or medical indicator, rather than medical code, placed on a person's motor vehicle record.
9. Contains a statement of legislative intent.
10. Makes conforming changes.
11. Becomes effective on January 1, 2027.
House Action
TI 2/11/26 DPA 6-0-1-0
3rd Read 3/11/26 49-2-8-0-1
Prepared by Senate Research
March 23, 2026
KJA/KM/hk