Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

In 1836, Texas outlawed the practice of imprisonment for debts, yet today, thousands of Texans, many low-income, are being jailed because they owe money to the state.  Is Texas returning to the age of debtors' prisons when 10 percent of Texans are wanted for traffic violations?

Recently El Diario and the El Paso Times reported that 59,429 El Paso drivers and 69,730 Austin drivers have outstanding warrants for failing to pay fines for traffic violations.  In El Paso and Austin, that means 11 percent of the population is wanted on warrants for traffic tickets.

How did this happen?  In 2003, with a $10 billion budget deficit, the 78th Legislature enacted H.B. 3588, which created the Driver Responsibility Program (DRP), a point system for traffic violations.  Drivers pay a $100 - $2,000 surcharge to the state if they accumulate a certain number of points and for certain other offenses.  Some underlying offenses have fines up to $3,500.  Proceeds for the DRP go to fund the state's trauma care and EMS fund.

The bill analysis for S.B. 3588 stated, "H.B. 3588 addresses the full scope of transportation issues facing the state. It creates new financing tools to generate the funding required to maintain a working transportation system. These include the use of bonds to generate immediate cash flow, mechanisms for funding the Texas mobility fund, and an increase in fines and fees levied for traffic violations."

Today, everyone in Austin knows that the real story behind these high fines and surcharges is not traffic safety, but money—in other words, it's a tax.

In 2007, Virginia followed Texas.  On July 19, the New York Times reported that high traffic fines in Virginia—some as high as $2,500—were increased by the legislature to raise money for road projects and substitute for a statewide tax hike.

The Washington Post reported that officials in Michigan and New Jersey, other states that have enacted a traffic point system and surcharges, told Virginia officials to brace for problems, including clogged courts and the prospect of residents having to choose between keeping their licenses and paying their bills.  In El Paso, prosecutors told me that "system just doesn't work."

Tom Pearce, a Republican member of the Michigan state legislature, told the Post, "Had any lawmaker in Virginia called me, I would have said, 'Don't do it.'  An awful lot of my colleagues would not have voted on these had they understood the unintended consequences."

Robert G. Marshall, a member of the Virginia legislature, told the Times, "Criminal and civil penalties shouldn't be created for raising money."  Stephanie Haley, a Virginia resident, added, "This is going to hit the poor the worst because they will be least able to handle such a huge fine.  Someone living paycheck to paycheck is going to be wiped out by a small mistake."

Ms. Haley should come to Texas.  In El Paso, with a population of 563,662, 59,000 people now have outstanding arrest warrants for traffic violations.  In Austin it's the same story, with 11 percent of the population with outstanding traffic warrants.

Recently, our offices received letters and heard stories from many who now have warrants. Here are a few (names have been changed):

Jane Smith who works in El Paso has close to $3,500 in outstanding tickets.  She is behind on her rent.  Over the last four months, she had to put in thousands of dollars for car repairs.  Under the Texas Driver Responsibility laws she will also fact over $3,000 in surcharges.

Monica Jackson is a single mother, and mentions that rising gas prices and high insurance rates have had a negative impact on her ability to comply with driver surcharges.  She feels that she has been put in a tough position where she must choose between being compliant with the law and paying her fines, or providing for her child's needs.

When Texas' Driver Responsibility law was passed, data based on a New Jersey study showed a disproportionate impact of surcharges on middle and low income communities.  A 2001 study by the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice discussed the impact of traffic surcharges, "The ultimate burden, of course, falls particularly heavily upon low-income and urban residents.  In a recent survey of Newark workforce training programs, for example, as many as 80% of participants in some programs were unable to reach or are disqualified from job opportunities because their licenses have been suspended [because of nonpayment]."

With excessive surcharges and their disproportionate impact on working families, the Driver Responsibility law is creating new debtor prisons.  Trauma care should be paid with taxes, not the threat of prison.  We all want a safe community, but taking parents from children and employees from the workplace to put them in jail because they can't afford to pay traffic fines does not make sense.