Starting after December 31, 2026, Arizona driver licenses and nonoperating ID licenses will have a space to show that the holder has an advance health care directive, and people who rely in good faith on that license indicator to withhold CPR, including civilian bystanders, get legal protection.
Official title: license; driver; nonoperating; medical indicia
- From and after December 31, 2026
What changes
BeforeLicenses had a space only for a medical code, set by department rule, showing an adverse medical condition.
NowLicenses must also have a space where a licensee may indicate having an advance health care directive: a health care power of attorney, a prehospital medical care directive, a living will or a mental health care power of attorney.
BeforeThe medical condition mark was a code of numbers or letters that the department set by rule.
NowIt is called a medical indicator, and the requirement that the department set a code by rule is removed. A signed statement from a licensed physician or registered nurse practitioner is still required.
BeforeThe department could keep the medical code in its computer records if the person asked for this in writing.
NowThat option is removed. The department shall not keep the medical indicator in its computer after issuing the license. It may not keep any directive document provided for the new directive space after the license is issued.
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NowAt each renewal, the licensee must affirm to the department that the medical indicator, or the health care directive, is still in effect. The department is not required to accept or interpret directives that do not meet state requirements.
BeforeEmergency medical personnel, hospital emergency staff and direct care staff who relied in good faith on an apparently genuine prehospital directive, or an orange photocopy of one, were protected from liability.
NowCivilian bystanders are added to that protection. Relying on a directive indicator on the patient's driver license or nonoperating ID license is also covered.
Who it affects
- Driver license and nonoperating ID license holders
- People with advance health care directives
- Civilian bystanders who respond to medical emergencies
- Emergency medical personnel, hospital emergency staff and direct care staff
- Arizona Department of Transportation
- Arizona health care directives registry
What you need to do
Nothing is required. A licensee who chooses to show a medical indicator or health care directive on a license must affirm at each renewal that it is still in effect.
What the law doesn't answer
- What document or proof a licensee must show to get the directive indicator
- Whether there is a fee to add the indicator
- What the indicator will look like on the license
- How the renewal affirmation is to be made
- What happens if a licensee does not affirm at renewal
- How the department will coordinate with the health care directives registry
This summary describes the law as enacted. Later laws, court rulings or referendum petitions can change the picture. Check the official text for the current wording.