Incredibly, an estimated 11 million people nationwide are
believed to have lost their driver’s licenses because of debts owed to or
ordered by the government, often for offenses having nothing to do with motor
vehicle safety, like minor drug offenses or missed payments for child support —
not for unsafe or drunk driving. That’s roughly 1 in every 20 drivers, a cohort
tilted heavily toward people of color. For those whose licenses are suspended,
the effect is to set a poverty trap while doing nothing to enhance public
safety.
Several states, as well as the District of Columbia, have
halted such license suspensions, including, just since 2018, Montana, Virginia,
West Virginia, Idaho and Mississippi. Elsewhere, however, the practice persists
on autopilot, either unexamined or because states, indifferent to soaking the
poor, regard it as an effective way to raise revenue for state and local
coffers.
The costs of that policy are steep and overlooked. Take away
driving privileges from someone already too strapped by debt to cover basic
living costs, and it may become impossible for that person to get to work and
hold down a job. Or, if the person drives anyway — as most do, according to the
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators — they face the risk of
fines and months of jail time.
Under the status quo in states that suspend licenses for
non-payments, police face the additional burden of being expected to enforce
those suspensions; forced into the role of debt collectors, they then become
the subject of additional resentment and hostility. In 2015 alone, Washington
state troopers spent 70,848 hours dealing with license suspensions for
non-driving offenses, according to the state’s own calculations. How does that
advance public safety or welfare, especially during a pandemic?
In the Senate, a bill that would encourage states to
repeal such laws was introduced this month. In a hopeful sign, a Republican and
a Democrat are its two main sponsors: Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Sen. Christopher
A. Coons (D-Del.).
The measure offers modest incentives to do the right thing.
Congress would authorize $20 million a year over the next five years to help
states cover the costs of making the change. And the bill would end a major
federal incentive for states to do the wrong thing: a measure that slashes
highway funding for states that fail to suspend licenses.
Advocates across the ideological spectrum — the Koch network
to the ACLU — support the bill, known as the Driving for Opportunity Act. And
no wonder: It doesn’t take much explaining to see that punishing poverty is a
losing strategy, and one this country can ill afford.
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