Personal Narrative: Sean
Sean Lewis spent his 36th birthday at the Escambia County Clerk’s Office trying to resolve his overdue court fines and fees so that he could get his driver’s license back.
Driver's License Suspension
Driven By Debt: How Driver’s License Suspensions for Unpaid Fines and Fees Hurt Texas Families
This report discusses the various ways debt-based driver’s license suspensions harm Texas drivers, especially those that are low-income and minorities.
Personal Narrative: Melanie
Melanie is a white, 45-year-old resident of South Carolina. As a mother, she tries her best to care for her children but she has not been able to provide basic healthcare for them for years due to her license suspension.
Statutory Inequality: The Logics of Monetary Sanctions in State Law
This article analyzes Illinois laws to investigate the fines and fees people are expected to pay and what happens when they cannot afford to pay these costs.
Maryland House Bill 1267: Prohibits driver’s license suspension for people on payment plans.
Maryland HB 1267 allows individuals who owe fines and fees to enter into a payment plan to avoid driver’s license suspension for nonpayment.
Tennessee HB 0839: Prevents suspension of a driver license for failure to pay […] if person is indigent or enters into payment plan.
This legislation requires Tennessee courts to conduct an ability to pay hearing before suspending a driver’s license for failure to pay fines and fees.
Florida SB 734: Penalties and fees; driver’s license suspensions
The bill provides that driver’s licenses may not be suspended for failure to pay fines and fees unless the person has the ability to pay but refuses to do so. It also provides that courts must provide alternatives to immediate payment of fines and fees for people who are indigent, such as payment plans and community service.
Personal Narrative: Kevin
Kevin lives in a rural town in Alabama and is disabled. He relies on his monthly disability check to support him and his partner. He could not afford car insurance, but he continued to drive since there are no other viable options for transportation where he lives. After he was ticketed for lack of insurance, his license was suspended and his fine only compounded the thousands of dollars in court debt he already owed.
Virginia Senate Bill 1013: Relating to suspension of driver’s license for nonpayment of fines or costs.
This bill, which did not pass, would have ended driver's license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees in Virginia.
Stinnie v. Holcomb
This case challenges the constitutionality of a Virginia statute that requires the automatic suspension of the driver’s licenses of people who fail to pay court fines and fees.