HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

1 Section 26 of the Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 127, is amended

(a) by repealing subsections (1) to (3) and substituting the following:

(1) A notice of maintenance order may be registered in a land title office in the same manner as a charge is registered, and the maintenance order to which the notice relates is deemed for the purposes of Part 5 of the Court Order Enforcement Act to be a judgment as defined in section 81 of that Act if an application is made under this section for the registration and the application is accompanied by the notice of maintenance order. ,

(1.1) The notice of maintenance order referred to in subsection (1) must include

(a) the full name and last known address of each person who is a party to the maintenance order,

(b) the date of the maintenance order,

(c) the court file number and court registry location, if any, associated with the maintenance order, and

(d) a description of the land against which the maintenance order is to be registered. ,

(2) The creditor may apply for registration of a notice of maintenance order unless the maintenance order to which the notice relates is filed with the director.

(3) With the consent of the creditor, the director may apply for registration of a notice of maintenance order if the maintenance order to which the notice relates is filed with the director. ,

(b) by repealing subsection (4.1) and substituting the following:

(4.1) If a notice of maintenance order is registered under this section and the maintenance order to which the notice relates is varied, a notice of maintenance order in respect of the varied maintenance order is deemed to be registered and has the same priority as the registered notice of maintenance order. ,

(c) in subsections (5) to (11) by striking out "a maintenance order" and substituting "a notice of maintenance order",

(d) in subsection (7) by striking out "the order" in both places and substituting "the notice", and

(e) in subsections (10) and (11) by striking out "registered order" wherever it appears and substituting "registered notice".

2 Section 29.1 is amended

(a) in subsection (2) by striking out "the director must give the debtor notice" and substituting "the director must give the debtor notice, which must be in the manner prescribed by the regulations,",

(b) by repealing subsection (3) and substituting the following:

(3) On receipt of a notice under subsection (1) (a), the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia must cancel the debtor's driver's licence, if any, and, for the applicable period under subsection (3.2), must not issue a driver's licence to the debtor or renew the debtor's driver's licence.

(3.01) If a person is notified that his or her driver's licence has been cancelled under subsection (3), the person must,

(a) if notified of the cancellation by mail, immediately send the driver's licence to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, and

(b) if notified of the cancellation by personal service by a peace officer, within the meaning of the Motor Vehicle Act, a sheriff or a person authorized by the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia to do anything under that Act, surrender the driver's licence to the serving peace officer, sheriff or person. ,

(c) in subsection (7) by striking out "under subsection (3)" and substituting "under subsection (3) or (3.1)", and

(d) by adding the following subsections:

(8) If

(a) a debtor's driver's licence is cancelled as a result of a notice given under subsection (1) (a),

(b) a driver's licence is subsequently issued to the debtor under section 29.2 (4) after the debtor enters into an arrangement referred to in section 29.2 (1) (b) or (c), and

(c) the debtor fails to comply with that arrangement,

the director may, even if the arrears under the maintenance order total less than $3 000, forward to the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia a further notice under subsection (1) (a)

(d) within one year after the date the subsequent driver's licence is issued, and

(e) despite subsection (2), after giving the debtor at least 10 days' notice that action under this section will be taken in relation to the debtor's driver's licence.

(9) There must be no refund of any portion of the fee prescribed for issuing a driver's licence if the driver's licence is cancelled under this section.

3 Section 29.2 is amended by adding the following subsections:

(3) If a debtor's driver's licence is cancelled as a result of a notice given under section 29.1 and

(a) the director directs the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia under subsection (1) of this section to disregard that notice, or

(b) the director advises that corporation that the maintenance order has been withdrawn under section 6 or is no longer in arrears,

the director must also direct that corporation to issue a driver's licence to the debtor.

(4) If so directed under subsection (3), the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia must, subject to the Motor Vehicle Act and its regulations, issue to the debtor a driver's licence, which may have a term of less than 5 years despite section 60 (4) of that Act.

4 Section 51 (2) is amended

(a) in paragraph (i.7) by striking out "under section 29.1 (2.1)" and substituting "under section 29.1 (2) and (2.1)", and

(b) in paragraph (i.8) by striking out "sections" and substituting "section".

Commencement

5 This Act comes into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.

 
Explanatory Notes

SECTION 1: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 26] replaces the requirement to file a copy of a maintenance order when registering the maintenance order in a land title office with a requirement to file a notice of maintenance order instead.

SECTION 2: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 29.1] authorizes the Director of Maintenance Enforcement to direct the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia

• to cancel the driver's licence of a person whose arrears under a maintenance order total $3 000 or more, and
• to cancel the person's driver's licence again if that person fails to comply with an arrangement with the director.

SECTION 3: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 29.2] authorizes the Director of Maintenance Enforcement, if certain conditions are met, to direct the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia to issue a driver's licence, which may have a term of less than 5 years, to a person whose driver's licence was cancelled under section 29.1.

SECTION 4: [Family Maintenance Enforcement Act, section 51] makes consequential and housekeeping amendments to the Act.