Bill unfairly burdens Students, low-income Texans,
leads to more uninsured drivers
“Here’s a terrible program that used punitive fines to plug holes in the budget. Some face $1000 fines for a first time offense. Of the more than 1,600,000 in the program, more than 1,080,000 can’t pay. In Austin , that translates to one in four of the whole city who have arrest warrants out because they can’t pay the fine. Our founders never intended for debtor’s prisons to substitute for a tax system”
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AUSTIN - On DATE the Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee passed SB 896, a bill filed by Senator Eliot Shapleigh (D-El Paso) that would repeal the state's Driver Responsibility Program (DRP). The program has disproportionately hit low-income and minority Texans with expensive fees, and has led to more warrants being issued to low-income Texans and more uninsured drivers on Texas ' roads.
In 2003, the 78th Legislature created the DRP as a funding tool for trauma care centers and transportation projects. The program established a system which assigns points to moving violations and applies some automatic surcharges to offenders.
According to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB), this program disproportionately hurts students and low-income or indigent Texans who cannot afford to pay the costly surcharges. Accumulated fees as a result of these surcharges could total hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
“Here’s a terrible program that used punitive fines to plug holes in the budget. Some face $1000 fines for a first time offense. Of the more than 1,600,000 in the program, more than 1,080,000 can’t pay. In Austin , that translates to one in four of the whole city who have arrest warrants out because they can’t pay the fine. Our founders never intended for debtor’s prisons to substitute for a tax system,” Senator Shapleigh said.
Under the program, Driving without a license, for example, carries a $150 penalty, plus a $100 annual surcharge, making the total violation $450. Driving with an invalid license would cost a driver $150, plus a $250 annual surcharge, making the total violation $900.
Should a driver commit one of these violations again or another violation carrying an automatic surcharge within that three years, they would be assessed an additional annual surcharge.
Many Texans affected by these automatic surcharges are first-time offenders, students or low-income families who are now faced with the choice of either complying with the law, or paying for their education or vital living expenses.
In the City of Austin , up to four percent of its population faced surcharges. In El Paso , one out of five people were under warrant for Class C misdemeanors and moving violations that directly resulted in automatic surcharges and points assessments.
Many Texas drivers were not aware that a surcharge was going to be assessed because the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) did not have available funds to advertise the change in policy. As a result, about two thirds of offenders have defaulted on their payments. According to DPS, to this day, the department still does not have the funds for a public service announcement or campaign, and courts are not required to give information on the surcharges.
In 2003, with a $10 billion budget deficit, the 78th Legislature created the DRP to help fund The Trauma Center and Texas General Revenue Funds. Since its creation, however, compliance rates have been low. According to the LBB, between 2003 and 2008 only 38.5 percent of offenders have complied with the program. Because of low compliance, the program provides a very unstable revenue stream and has failed in its goal to fund trauma care and the General Revenue Fund.
In fact, According to the LBB, the surcharges have led to a greater number of unlicensed and uninsured drivers on Texas roads. Texans caught driving without proof of insurance would be required to pay a $250 fee, plus an automatic annual surcharge of $250 for three years from the date of their conviction, making the total cost of the violation $1,000. This fee cost has left many Texas drivers faced with either paying assessed fees or paying for continued liability insurance.
Last Legislative session a bill, SB 1723, authorized an Indigence Program for the DRP that has not been implemented. DPS today still lacks the resources to implement this program and lacks the authority to reduce surcharge violations in proportion to an offenders indigence status.
It is bad public policy to have a funding mechanism for trauma care centers that actually increases the number of uninsured and unlicensed drivers.
Now that SB 896 has been voted out of committee, it will go to the full Texas Senate.
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