Take Action to End Debt-Based Driver’s License Suspensions

SB 5226, in its original form, eliminated the suspension of an individual’s driver license for failure to pay a fine or appear at a hearing following a moving violation. The bill recognized that suspensions based on an inability to pay were not based on public safety considerations but merely penalized people for being poor.

Unfortunately, the version of the bill that passed out of the Senate still authorizes using license suspension to coerce debt payments from drivers. Although the bill requires the court to enter into a payment plan, if a driver misses a payment and then fails to attend the resulting hearing, their license will be suspended. The bill as amended does NOT solve the problem it was intended to address and should not be passed in its current form.