April 15, 2024 – Washington, D.C. – Last week, business leaders, policy experts, nonprofit advocates, and community leaders joined together to call for an end to debt-based driver’s license suspensions. Hosted by Fines & Fees Justice Center, the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice, and Uber, the event highlighted the critical criminal and economic justice reform …
Introduction In the U.S., where over 85% of people drive to work, taking away a person’s driver’s license is the same as taking away their ability to survive. Despite this fact, 25 states use restrictions on driver’s licenses as a means of coercing court debt payments. As a result of these debt-based license suspensions, millions …
The Driving for Opportunity Act advances through Senate Judiciary Committee backed by a coalition of criminal justice, law enforcement, civil rights, and conservative advocacy organizations – a key step toward final passage WASHINGTON — Today, legislation led by U.S. Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) to create incentives to stop debt-based driver’s license suspensions advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee with bipartisan …
The Driving for Opportunity Act is backed by U.S. Senators Coons and Wickers, as well as a diverse coalition of criminal justice, law enforcement, civil rights and conservative advocacy organizations WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) introduced the bipartisan Driving for Opportunity Act to create incentives to stop debt-based driver’s license …
Today, over 50 organizations from the Free to Drive coalition sent a letter calling on the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators to ask its member agencies to take emergency measures to reduce debt-based driver’s license suspensions for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. You can read the full text of the letter here. The letter …
Visit ABC News to read the full piece. The Fines and Fees Justice Center, a non-profit which focuses on this issue and is a part of the Free to Drive campaign, reports that 44 states and D.C. currently suspend, revoke or refuse to renew driver’s licenses over unpaid fees stemming from traffic tickets, or fines …
For the Wall Street Journal, Free to Drive steering committee member Koch Industries’ Jenny Kim announces the launch of the Free to Drive coalition and explains why driver’s licenses should never be suspended for failure to pay fines and fees. You can read the full piece here.
Driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees are cruel, counterproductive, and harmful to millions of people. Nationwide, there are at least 11 million driver’s license suspensions for unpaid court debt. People who lose their license often lose their jobs; they can’t go to the doctor, attend church, take care of their families or get …
Free to Drive has released a collection of interactive maps that show which states suspend driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and fees, how many licenses are suspended in each state, organizations working to reform that practice, and personal narratives from people harmed by license suspension. Click here to view the maps and learn more about …