End debt-based driver’s license restrictions
FFJC is committed to ending the practice of suspending drivers licenses, or placing other restrictions on a person’s ability to drive, due to failure to pay outstanding court debt or failure to appear at hearings related to court debt.
Many states still suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew or issue drivers’ licenses for unpaid and unaffordable traffic, toll, misdemeanor, and felony fines and fees. Even more prevalent is suspending driver’s licenses when people miss court dates related to their payments or debts. The result: millions of people are struggling to survive with debt-related driving restrictions.
Many people have no choice but to continue driving, which puts them at risk of more fines and fees, a criminal conviction, and incarceration for driving without a valid license.
An inability to pay a fine or fee should never determine who is free to drive.
- No jurisdiction should suspend, revoke, or refuse to renew, a person’s driver’s license due to unpaid court debt or failure to appear at a court hearing related to court debt.
- No jurisdiction should place any restrictions on a person’s ability to register a vehicle due to unpaid court debt or failure to appear at a court hearing related to court debt.
- All debt-related suspensions and restrictions should be lifted and all driver’s licenses previously suspended solely due to unpaid court debt or failure to appear should automatically be reinstated, without any application, petition or payment required by the license holder.
- All registration restrictions put in place due to unpaid court debt or failure to appear should be automatically removed.
- All people who have suspensions or restrictions lifted and/or have their driver’s licenses reinstated should be notified by the administering agency.
- Each jurisdiction should be required to collect and publish data regarding implementation, including the total number of suspensions lifted and driver’s licenses reinstated as a result of reforms.
- No jurisdiction should charge fees to reinstate a drivers license.
Resources
- Researchers have estimated that each suspended driver’s license results in an average of $12,700 of lost wages each year! Beyond the personal hardships that causes, to learn how that impacts a state like Texas, read Estimating the Earnings Loss Associated With a Criminal Record and Suspended Driver’s License.
- A 2025 study shows how ending license suspension as a sanction for court debt and reinstating people’s ability to drive improves statewide employment rates.
- Studies in New York and North Carolina also show the sheer magnitude of driver’s license suspensions and the negative effects on each of those states.
- To learn more how debt-based license suspensions are exacerbating the statewide labor shortage in Florida, hindering the state’s economic growth, and contributing to some of the highest car insurance rates in the country read Stepping on the Gas: Accelerating Florida’s Growth by Restoring the Freedom to Drive.