PA Wants To Stop Suspending Driver's Licenses Due To Unpaid Fines

HARRISBURG, PA — New legislation has been introduced in the Pennsylvania General Assembly that would prevent the state from suspending driver's licenses for individuals who cannot pay fines or fees.

It's the latest effort by the state to modernize the way citizens are punished and adjust procedural elements of bureaucracy that can create more problems than they solve.

"The suspension or revocation of a driver’s license is counterproductive and cyclic in nature," State Rep. Rick Krajewski said in a statement. "The inability to drive due to a suspended license has extreme economic consequences making it more difficult to pay fines and fees."

The bill specifically points to fines from traffic violations. Current Pennsylvania law restricts or revokes licenses of individuals who are in debt, a process that disproportionately impacts an already vulnerable class of lower income individuals.

Advocates further argued that a driver's license is used for essential things that the state should not have the ability to punish for late fees, like making a living and caring for family members.

"While it is extremely important that our state’s roadways are safe, revoking or suspending a person’s driver’s license just because they cannot pay fines and fees is not beneficial," Krajewski added. "Ultimately, this results in a punishment that is not synonymous with the original offense."

The bill stands in sharp contrast to policies recently put in place by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission that lowers the threshold for what would revoke vehicle registrations for unpaid tolls. As that agency struggles to recoup massive losses incurred during the pandemic, they decreased the threshold for suspensions to just $250 in toll debt.

RELATED: PA To Suspend Registrations For $250 In Unpaid Tolls

Efforts at the federal level to protect citizens from such punitive practices are underway. Two U.S. Representatives from eastern Pennsylvania, Bucks County's Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1), and Delaware County's Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-5) introduced the Driving for Opportunity Act of 2020 that would essentially do the same thing nationally as Krajewski's bill would do for Pennsylvania.

“Punishing people for failing to pay debts in a way that limits their ability to obtain gainful employment only sets up a cruel cycle of failure and results in the criminalization of poverty,” Rep. Scanlon said at the time.

And it's clear there is significant bipartisan appetite for reform in the General Assembly. The body unanimously passed a bill into law last year, House Bill 987, that provides relief retroactively to individuals who had their licenses suspended for non-driving offenses.