Today's online Washington Post headline reads:
Judge Upholds Va. Driver's FeesThe article goes on to state:
Evidence Emerges That Law Was Enacted Without Fully Researching the Potential Effect on the Poor.
In January, a month before the Virginia General Assembly approved the fees, the Texas legislature issued a report that concluded a similar program in that state was failing because thousands of drivers could not afford to pay the fees. A copy of the report was obtained by The Washington Post on Monday. . . .
According to the Texas Legislative Budget Board, the state has reported a collection rate of 29 percent since the fees went into effect in 2003. As of a year ago, in 55 percent of cases, involving 828,000 licenses, licenses were suspended because fees were not paid, the report says. . . .Now, who would've thought that Del. Dave Albo didn't care about poor people? What is it he said in 2004 again?
The report says lawmakers should consider offering periodic amnesty to some drivers facing the fees, including those who can prove that their driving has improved.
Until changes are made, there are signs the fees are clogging the Texas court system.
Texas Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, a Democrat from El Pason, estimates that half of outstanding arrest warrants in El Paso and Austin are for people who are unable to pay the fees. According to Shapleigh's analysis, 11 percent of residents of those cities have outstanding arrest warrants.
"Driving responsibility laws are increasingly resembling debtors prisons," Shapleigh wrote in a letter to Texas lawmakers last month.