Governor Ralph Northam has submitted a budget amendment that would give Virginia legislators another chance this year to end the practice of suspending the driver’s licenses of people who fail to pay their court fines and fees.
More than 600,000 Virginians have lost their driving privileges for failure to pay fines and fees.
It’s a Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles policy that critics say is unconstitutional.
Northam said during a press conference Tuesday in Charlottesville that a driver’s license is essential to a person’s livelihood, especially in rural Virginia.
“When a person’s driver’s license is suspended, they face a difficult dilemma; obey the suspension and potentially lose their ability to provide for their families, or drive anyway and face further punishment and even jail," Northam said.
Virginia is only one of 14 states that suspend driver’s licenses for non-payment of any criminal debt, whether that’s the result of a misdemeanor, felony or traffic offense. Lisa Foster with the New York City-based Fines and Fees Justice Center said the policy doesn’t make sense.
“Even in the traffic context, there is no connection between the underlying traffic offense and suspending your driver’s license for nonpayment,” Foster said. “None of us would suggest that it would be wrong for a state to suspend someone’s driver’s license for truly unsafe driving problems.”
A bill that would have repealed the policy, was introduced this General Assembly session by Republican Senator Bill Stanley. It passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the Senate but failed by one vote in a House subcommittee.
“It is long overdue for Virginia to end this destructive policy, which targets people in poverty and prevents them not only from paying their debts, but also from taking care of their essential basic needs, and the health and welfare of their children and families,” Stanley said in a statement.
State lawmakers will consider the budget amendment during a reconvene session next week.
Northam provided $9 million in the budget to cover the impact of the lost driver’s license reinstatement fees as a result of the change.
Brianna Morgan from Petersburg is one of those Virginians whose license was suspended for court debt she couldn’t afford to pay.
“Without my license, a six-minute drive to respond to my son, when he has asthma attacks at school, became an hour on the bus,” Morgan said.
Morgan got her license back late last year when a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against the DMV, ordering the department to reinstate the licenses of the plaintiffs named in a lawsuit.
“I can be a better mom to my kids,” she said. “I am so happy for this”.