Sec. 1. 29-A MRSA §521, sub-§6-A is enacted to read:

6-A.__Placards for hearing-impaired persons.__The Secretary of State shall issue a placard to a person who provides medical documentation of a hearing impairment.__The placard must identify the driver as hearing impaired in a way that is clearly visible to other drivers.

Sec. 2. 29-A MRSA §1404, as amended by PL 1997, c. 617, §1, is amended to read:

§1404. Coded licenses

The Secretary of State shall provide that a license issued to:

1. Under 21. A person less than 21 years of age bears a distinctive color code; and

2. Prior convictions. A person convicted of operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs or with an excessive blood-alcohol level, as defined in section 2453, subsection 2, within 10 years of the date the license is issued, reissued or returned after a period of suspension bears a coded notation of that fact.

The Secretary of State may, at the request of a licensee, remove the coded notation from the license of a person convicted for a first operating-under-the-influence offense as defined in section 2453, subsection 2 after 6 years from the date of the conviction if the person has not been convicted or adjudicated of the offense of speeding more than 15 miles per hour over the maximum speed limit or any offense described under section 2551, subsection 1 or had a license suspended or revoked within that 6- year period. ; and

3.__Hearing impaired.__A person who has a medically documented hearing impairment bears a coded notation of that fact.

Sec. 3. 29-A MRSA §1410, sub-§2, ¶D, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 437, §40, is amended to read:

D. Social security number; and

Sec. 4. 29-A MRSA §1410, sub-§2, ¶D-1 is enacted to read:

D-1.__A distinctive code indicating a hearing impairment if the applicant provides medical documentation of a hearing impairment; and