Legislation would wrap up unfinished business from the 2018 driver responsibility fees repeal to allow Michiganders to return to the roads without undue financial burden
LANSING, Mich. (April 10, 2024) — Today, the Michigan Senate acted in bipartisan and unanimous fashion to pass Senate Bills 706 and 799, sponsored by Sen. Veronica Klinefelt (D-Eastpointe), Majority Vice Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee. Together, these bills would end the $125 reinstatement fee Michigan drivers must pay if their license was suspended for not paying outstanding driver responsibility fees (DRFs).
“For over a decade, thousands of Michigan residents were slapped with onerous driver responsibility fees, and many who were already struggling to make ends meet and unable to pay the fine had their license suspended,” said Sen. Klinefelt. “This unfair burden on drivers ultimately made it harder for them to find work, keep their job and support their family.”
Driver responsibility fees, first enacted in 2003, were additional charges — ranging from $100 up to $1,000 — that were tacked onto driving tickets. Failure to pay the fee would result in suspension of a person’s license. In 2018, Public Acts 43-50 eliminated DRFs, wiping out approximately $637 million in debt owed by nearly 350,000 Michigan drivers. That legislation included a sunset to pause the $125 reinstatement fee the Secretary of State could charge individuals who lost their driving privileges for failing to pay DRFs. After the sunset ended on December 31, 2018, the reinstatement fees were allowed to resume.
Sen. Klinefelt’s legislation would make that pause permanent, allowing all Michigan residents whose license was suspended as a result of unpaid DRFs to return to the roads without undue financial burden. Additionally, Senate Bill 706 would remove any record of an individual’s failure to pay outstanding DRFs from their historical driving record.
“While the 2018 repeal made great strides in rectifying the inequitable consequences of DRFs, there was some unfinished business remaining,” Sen. Klinefelt said. “Allowing our state to fully accomplish the original goal, my legislation finally puts these excessively punitive fees behind us and dismantles the barriers facing Michiganders seeking to restore their license.”
This legislative package has garnered support from a broad coalition of organizations including the Michigan Department of State, Michigan Catholic Conference, Michigan League for Public Policy, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, American Civil Liberties Union and the Michigan District Judges Association.
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