SB 405, as introduced, Hertzberg. Vehicles: failure to appear or pay fine: suspension of driving privilege.
Existing law authorizes the magistrate or clerk of a court to notify the Department of Motor Vehicles if any person has violated a written promise to appear or an order to appear, or willfully fails to pay a fine for a violation of specified provisions of the Vehicle Code. Existing law requires the department to suspend the driver’s license of a person upon receipt of the above-described notice from the court that the person has violated a written promise to appear or willfully failed to pay a fine, if there are prior violations, as specified.
This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to significantly reduce the number of persons who have their driver’s license suspended and to establish a process for persons with a current suspension to get their driving privileges restored without first having to pay all court-ordered debt.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
(a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(1) Driving in California is often described as a privilege, but
4for millions of Californians it is an economic necessity. Each day
P2 1millions of Californians take to the road to go to work, drop off
2their children at school and activities, go shopping, and visit family.
3Without the ability to drive, millions of families cannot afford to
4pay the cost of housing, pay utilities, put food on the table, afford
5clothing for their children, or be able to save for retirement. In
6short, driving is a fundamental need of virtually every person in
7the state.
8(2) Unfortunately, millions of Californians
have lost the ability
9to drive legally. Their driver’s licenses have been suspended, not
10because they are a danger to public safety, but because they could
11not pay fines associated with minor traffic tickets and other related
12fees and assessments. In the past five years, the Department of
13Motor Vehicles has suspended more than 2.7 million driver’s
14licenses for drivers’ failure to appear in court or failure to make
15payments ordered by a court. The Legislative Analyst’s Office
16reports that there is currently more than $10 billion in
17court-ordered, uncollected debt in California and $8 billion of this
18amount is for unpaid traffic violations.
19(3) For many families, a driver’s license suspension is the
20beginning of a descent into abject poverty for which there is no
21escape. Legal services advocates report that once a person gets his
22or her driver’s license suspended in California, it is virtually
23impossible for the driver’s license to be restored
until all the unpaid
24fees, fines and assessments are completely paid. Many people with
25a suspended driver’s license are low income and can only pay the
26debt off a little at a time. Others are unemployed or on public
27assistance and cannot afford to make any payments. The state of
28New Jersey did a study of persons with suspended driver’s licenses
29and found that 42 percent lost their jobs after their driver’s licenses
30were suspended and less than half of them were able to find new
31jobs; 88 percent experienced a loss of income.
32(4) The original rationale for suspending driver’s licenses was
33to compel persons who had committed a serious public safety
34violation to correct his or her behavior. This rationale over time
35has been extended to hundreds of nonpublic safety violations. As
36a report by the American Association of Motor Vehicle
37Administrators (AAMVA), “Best Practices Guide to Reducing
38Suspended Drivers” notes, all 50 states now suspend driver’s
39
licenses for nonhighway safety reasons. The AAMVA report
40recommends that states repeal laws that lead to driver’s license
P3 1suspensions for nonpublic safety reasons and replace those
2suspensions with payment plans and wage garnishments to collect
3court-ordered debt.
4(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
5significantly reduce the number of persons who have their driver’s
6licenses suspended and to establish a process for persons with
7current suspensions to get their driving privileges restored without
8first having to pay all court-ordered debt.
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