(a) Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c) and Section 12801.9, the department shall require an application for a driver’s license to contain the applicant’s social security account number and any other number or identifier determined to be appropriate by the department.

(b) An applicant who provides satisfactory proof that his or her presence in the United States is authorized under federal law, but who is not eligible for a social security account number, is eligible to receive an original driver’s license if he or she meets all other qualifications for licensure.

(c) (1) An applicant applying for a driver’s license under Section 12801.9, who has never been issued a social security account number and is not presently eligible for a social security account number, shall satisfy the requirements of this section if he or she indicates in the application described in Section 12800, in the manner prescribed by the department, that he or she has never been issued a social security account number and is not presently eligible for a social security account number.

(2) This subdivision does not apply to applications for a commercial driver’s license. The department shall require all applications for a commercial driver’s license to include the applicant’s social security account number.

(3) This section shall not be used to consider an individual’s citizenship or immigration status as a basis for a criminal investigation, arrest, or detention.

(d) The department shall not complete an application for a driver’s license unless the applicant is in compliance with the requirements of subdivision (a), (b), or (c).

(e) Notwithstanding any other law, the social security account number collected on a driver’s license application shall not be displayed on the driver’s license, including, but not limited to, inclusion on a magnetic tape or strip used to store data on the license.

(f) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2015, or on the date that the director executes a declaration pursuant to Section 12801.11, whichever is sooner.

(g) This section shall become inoperative on the effective date of a final judicial determination made by any court of appellate jurisdiction that any provision of the act that added this section, or its application, either in whole or in part, is enjoined, found unconstitutional, or held invalid for any reason. The department shall post this information on its Internet Web site.

(Amended (as amended by Stats. 2014, Ch. 27, Sec. 6) by Stats. 2015, Ch. 303, Sec. 537. (AB 731) Effective January 1, 2016. Conditionally inoperative as provided in subd. (g). See later operative version, as amended by Sec. 171 of Stats. 2014, Ch. 71.)