Monday, May 23, 2016
contact: abradley@incap.org
Do
you know a low-income Hoosier family or employer that has been affected by suspended
driver's licenses? On Wednesday May 25th, Indiana's Legislative Council will choose
from over two dozen topics for study committees to work on during the summer. One
of those issues was adopted unanimously by the House in HR
40, "that the Legislative Council is urged to assign to the appropriate
study committee the topic of suspension and reinstatement of driver's licenses
for those who are indigent". A recent report and guest blog post found a majority of Indiana’s suspended motorists have lost their licenses,
"not for OWIs or habitually reckless driving, but for a variety of
offenses unrelated to driving safety", resulting in hundreds of thousands
of low-income Hoosiers without access to transportation for non-safety reasons.
Meanwhile, reinstatement fees for some of these offenses have increased over
200% just in the past two years, creating a self-defeating cycle. And while
Indiana doesn't yet have all the data or a remedy in place, we do know the
problem is growing for low-income families and employers who increasingly demand a
job-ready workforce.
However,
due to time and resource constraints, the Council will not choose every topic
that was assigned or urged by the Legislature, and that's where YOU come in.
Please read the letter below and take a moment to contact the
Legislative Council including Rep. Brian Bosma (Chair) and Sen. David Long (Vice Chair) to urge them to study the
causes, effects, and solutions to driver's license suspensions for the indigent, because having
hundreds of thousands of low-income Hoosiers without access to reliable transportation harms Indiana's families, employers, and our economy.
May 23, 2016
Speaker Brian C. Bosma
Chair, Legislative Council
Statehouse
200 W. Washington St., Rm. 404
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Re: House Resolution 40: Urging the Legislative
Council to assign the topic of the suspension and reinstatement of driver’s licenses
for those who are indigent
Dear Speaker Bosma:
In
2014 the General Assembly enacted legislation aiming to reduce the number of
Hoosier motorists with suspended driver’s licenses. House Bill 1279, which took
effect on January 1, 2015, eliminated certain mandatory license suspensions for
non-traffic offenses and created a “specialized driving privilege”
program.
During
the same legislative session, lawmakers enacted House Bill 1059. Under the law,
reinstatement fees for persons
suspended while driving without proof of insurance rose dramatically, in some
cases as much as 233 percent. These
costs are often prohibitively expensive and may prevent the restoration of
driving privileges indefinitely, even for those who can secure the requisite
insurance coverage.
For
many low-income Hoosiers—a majority of whom reside in either central cities or
rural areas—the growing suburbanization of jobs and the lack of reliable public
transportation create significant barriers to maintaining employment. State
policies that authorize driver’s license suspensions for non-moving violations,
combined with prohibitively-expensive reinstatement fees, exacerbate these
barriers, preventing many from becoming
economically self-sufficient.
Beyond
the cost to the individual, current state policies are counterproductive for businesses. Employers in Hamilton County, for
example, have struggled to find a sufficient number of job applicants in recent
years despite the growing need for their services, especially in the
hospitality and retail industry. Experts attribute this problem to the lack of transportation,
among other reasons.[1] And each
time an employee loses his or her job from lack of transportation, employers
absorb the cost of re-hiring and re-training. This becomes an unnecessary expense for the state as
well: payment of unemployment insurance to a former employee who would
otherwise have remained on the job.
Finally,
a growing body of evidence suggests that states encounter low rates of
collection as they increasingly rely on fines and fees without taking into
account the offender’s ability to pay.[2] In early
2014, the Indiana BMV reported a total of $131
million in unpaid driver’s license reinstatement fees. The enhanced
reinstatement fees under House Bill 1059 were expected to bring in an
additional $17.7 million in annual revenue starting in 2015. Actual revenue generated came to only
$9.8 million. Although a modest increase over the previous year, the amount
fell far short of fiscal projections—nearly
$8 million short.
For
these reasons, we strongly urge the Legislative Council to assign the topic of
the suspension and reinstatement of driver’s licenses for those who are
indigent to study committee this summer.
Respectfully,
Professor
Fran Quigley
Autumn
James, J.D.
Ryan
Schwier, J.D.
Indiana
University Robert H. McKinney School of Law Health and Human Rights Clinic
Jessica
Fraser
Andrew
Bradley
Indiana
Institute for Working Families
KEY
FINDINGS OF RECENT REPORT
A
recent report published by the Health and Human Rights Clinic at the Indiana
University McKinney School of Law examines these issues in greater detail.[3] Among
the report’s key findings include the following:
·
Of
the estimated 420,000 suspended
motorists in Indiana, a majority have lost their licenses for a variety of
offenses unrelated to driving safety.
·
Non-driving-related
offenses
include, among others: unpaid traffic tickets, bouncing checks, truancy, fuel
theft, failure to show proof of insurance, failure to pay child support, controlled
substance violations, and graffiti.
·
More
than than 216,000 Hoosiers have
suspended driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic fines, a number roughly
proportional to the total populations of South Bend and Evansville combined.
·
Current
state policies are counterproductive for
businesses and generate unnecessary
expenses for the state.
·
In
early 2014, the BMV reported a total of $131
million in unpaid driver’s license reinstatement fees.
·
In
2014 the Indiana Office of Fiscal and Management Analysis projected an
additional $17,700,000 in annual revenue from increased license reinstatement
fees starting FY 2015. Actual revenue
generated came to only $9,788,770—nearly
$8 million short.[4]
·
The
2016 BMV omnibus bill, signed into law March 24, 2016, preserves the status quo
for both for driver’s license suspensions and reinstatement fees.[5]
[1] Lindsey Erdody, Retailers, Restaurants Struggle to Find
Staff in North ‘Burbs, Indpls Business J. (Nov. 7, 2015),
http://www.ibj.com/articles/55686-retail-restaurants-struggleto-find-staff-in-northern-suburbs.
[2] Council of
Economic Advisors, Fines, Fees, and Bail: Payments in the Criminal Justice
System that Disproportionately Impact the Poor 4-5 (Dec. 2015), available at
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/page/files/1215_cea_fine_fee_bail_issue_brief.pdf.
[3] Ryan T. Schwier
& Autumn James, IU McKinney School of Law, Roadblock to Economic
Independence: How Driver’s License Suspension Policies in Indiana Impede
Self-Sufficiency, Burden State Government & Tax Public Resources (2016), available at
https://mckinneylaw.iu.edu/practice/clinics/_docs/DL_Rpt_2-1-16.pdf.
[4] See Ind. Office of Fiscal &
Management Analysis, Fiscal Impact Statement Related to H.R. 1059, at 2 (2014)
(estimating Motor Vehicle Highway Account revenue at $11.7M per year, with the
remainder to be distributed to the Financial Responsibility Compliance
Verification Fund). See also DL
Report, supra, at 11-13.
[5] See H.R. 1087,
119th Gen. Assemb., 2d Reg. Sess. (Ind. 2016) (enacted).
