AUSTIN – The Senate voted Friday to revamp the troubled Texas Driver Responsibility Program, under which more than 1 million Texans have been unable or unwilling to pay stiff surcharges on top of their regular fines for driving violations.

Compromise legislation sent to the House would give judges discretion to lower the surcharges – which can run as high as $3,000 for a single driving-while-intoxicated conviction – and also bar the state from assessing surcharges against students and the indigent.

The bill by Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, would also allow drivers who are slapped with a surcharge to get credit for each year that they have no violations. It was approved, 23-5.

"This is a terrible program that used punitive fines to plug holes in the state budget," the senator said, noting that it became law in 2003 when the Legislature was trying to erase a $10 billion revenue shortfall.

Shapleigh said that of the 1.6 million Texas drivers who are being forced to pay the surcharges, nearly 1.1 million have not paid, and many can't afford to.

"Our founders never intended for debtors' prisons to substitute for an adequate tax system," he said, adding that most lawmakers "now recognize that this program has never worked and needs some fundamental changes."

Shapleigh originally proposed that the program be terminated. But opposition from Republican senators forced him to accept a compromise.

DWI offenses carry the biggest surcharges – $1,000 a year for three years on the first conviction and $2,000 a year where the blood alcohol content is twice the legal limit. No car insurance or an invalid license draws a $250-a-year surcharge for three years.

The original idea was to levy hefty fines for certain violations to discourage those types of offenses and at the same time raise funds for highways and trauma care across the state.

But the unpaid surcharges are approaching $900 million.

In addition, Shapleigh noted that trauma centers have received very little of the money that has been paid, and money intended for highways is now going into general state revenue.

The Senate bill also provides for better notice requirements for people in the driver responsibility program. All of the changes in the Senate bill would affect only future participants and would not eliminate regular fines for driving violations.

Critics of the program said many of those affected by the surcharges are first-time offenders, students, single parents and low-income residents faced with the choice of either complying with the law or paying for food, rent, car repairs and medical bills.

An analysis by the Texas Department of Public Safety – covering the period from fall 2004 to fall 2008 – showed that the lowest rate of compliance was by drivers cited for not having a valid license. Just 26 percent paid their surcharges of $250 a year for three years.

At the next lowest level of compliance, 36 percent, were drivers convicted of DWI. Among those ticketed for not having insurance, 37 percent paid their surcharges. Statistics from DPS and the insurance industry have indicated that as many as 25 percent of motorists in Texas lack minimum liability insurance.

A partial amnesty and incentive program ordered by the Legislature two years ago to encourage more drivers to make their payments is expected to help, but it's still in early stages of implementation. In addition, the DPS has hired a collection agency to boost payments.