If approved, a new bipartisan proposal would allow Pennsylvania teenagers to receive their driver’s licenses a year earlier, writes Renatta Signorini for Trib Live.

Republican state Rep. Eric Nelson and state Rep. Stephen Kinsey, a Philadelphia Democrat, are looking for co-sponsors for legislation that would make 15 the age of eligibility for getting a junior driver’s license and learner’s permit.

At present the driving age in Pennsylvania is 16, but teens are allowed to start working legally at 14 with a few exceptions.

In a memo sent to members of the state House of Representatives, Nelson and Kinsey described the discrepancy as “arbitrary age discrimination.”

Nelson noted that when his 16-year-old daughter applied for lifeguard classes, her one-year-younger friend was considering the same move but said she would not be able to drive herself there.

Bringing the age down by one year would start the licensing process sooner and open the road to more teenagers entering the workforce.

“For families who wanted to be able to do that, it’s a really big opportunity that the state is taking away from a person who is wanting to work in the summer,” said Nelson.

Read more about the proposal in Trib Live.

WHYY tells us what to expect from a Pennsylvania driver’s license test.