Lawmakers Call for End to Controversial Driver Responsibility Program
A bipartisan group of lawmakers on Thursday called for the repeal of a state program that requires drivers convicted of certain traffic offenses to pay annual surcharges to keep their driver's licenses.
Senate Bill 93 by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, is the latest legislative attempt to abolish the Driver Responsibility Program. Standing beside Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, and Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, Ellis said at a news conference that the program has trapped many Texans in a cycle of poverty, requiring them to pay multiple times for a single traffic offense. But past attempts to end the program have been unsuccessful, with some lawmakers citing the revenue the program sends each year to state hospitals and trauma centers as a reason to continue it.
Supporters of the bill are trying to reframe the failings of the program, emphasizing the high human cost of a relatively small amount of revenue.
"This is not an issue of whether it's left or right; this is an issue of what's right and what's wrong," Hall said at the news conference. He said the program had not worked as the Legislature intended it to and that it was time to explore alternative sources of funding. "The trauma units need money, but I don't see using people's lives the way they are as the right thing to do."
Read more: http://www.texastribune.org/2015/04/30/lawmakers-call-end-controversial-driver-responsibi/