You should apply for a federal background records check with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) approximately 45-60 days before you renew your license.

If you receive the TSA results by the time you wish to renew, bring the results with you when you visit a Secretary of State office to renew. If you were approved, you should receive your photo license with the hazardous materials endorsement within two weeks of your renewal application.

If your photo license has not expired and you wish to renew before receiving a TSA response, you may renew your license and receive a 90-day temporary operator permit (TOP) with a hazardous material endorsement. Your photo license will not be produced until the Secretary of State receives results from TSA. If a TSA response is not received prior to the expiration of the 90-day TOP you must return to a Secretary of State office and re-apply for a license without the hazardous material endorsement.

If a TSA approval is received prior to the expiration of the TOP, you should receive your photo license with the hazardous materials endorsement, or if a TSA denial is received prior to the expiration of the TOP, you should receive your photo license without the hazardous material endorsement, within two weeks of the Secretary of State receiving the TSA response.

If your photo license is expired when you renew, you will receive a 60-day TOP without a hazardous material endorsement. You will be allowed drive other vehicles and will receive a photo license without the hazardous materials endorsement. When you receive a favorable TSA response you will have to return to a Secretary of State Branch office and pay a fee to add the hazardous materials endorsement.

Prior to August 2005, to renew a photo license with a hazardous material endorsement, the Secretary of State required proof from a driver that they had applied for a federal records background check by showing an application receipt. As of August 2005 the application receipt is no longer required to renew with a hazardous materials endorsement.

If you renewed your license before May 31, 2005 you did not need a federal background record check to renew your hazardous material endorsement. However, when you renew your license four years from that renewal date, a background records check will be required.

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