‘Debtors prison’ for drivers gets new scrutiny
AUSTIN — A scheme to rack up fees on people caught driving under the influence, without insurance or without a license is subsidizing hospital emergency rooms — at the expense, critics say, of poor people sinking deeper into debt.
But calls to scrap the program are controversial, and a recent Senate report says they aren’t plausible in light of budget constraints.
More than a decade old, the program tacks on surcharges to fines, fees and court costs paid by motorists for various traffic offenses.
Those who don’t pay lose their licenses.
But, in many cases, lost licenses are keeping people from getting jobs and paying off their balances.
“We’ve got 1 million people trapped in what I call debtor’s prison,” said Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas said. “It’s a critical problem.”
As consensus grows that the program has caused unintended consequences, lawmakers, hospitals, the business community and others are at a standstill over a key issue – how to replace $65 million a year it raises for hospital trauma units.
The Texas Hospital Association can’t get behind plans to bag the program without another source of money, said Carrie Kroll, the group’s vice president of advocacy, quality and public health.
“We’re fearful that it would significantly impact hospital funding,” she said.
In 2014, Texas hospitals logged nearly 130,000 trauma cases, she said.
The state’s mortality rate from those cases is 2 1/2 percent better than the national average.
Yet, the Texas Association of Business considers the downsides of the surcharge a major workforce issue.
“We want everyone to be able to get to work,” said Cathy DeWitt, the association’s vice president of governmental affairs. “It’s really hardest on those who can’t afford it. It’s an avalanche.”
So-called “driver responsibility” surcharges vary by infraction.
A first conviction for driving while intoxicated brings on $1,000 per year for three years, while subsequent convictions trigger annual $1,500 payments for three years.
Driving without insurance brings a $250 annual payment for three years. For driving without a license, it’s $100 per year for three years.
The state contracts a third party to collect, and it charges additional service fees. All of that is layered onto the fines and court costs, not to mention punishments, meted out by courts in each case.
Emily Gerrick, staff attorney for the Texas Fair Defense Project, said the “vast majority” of motorists ensnared in the program were caught driving without a license or without insurance.
“Most are non-dangerous offenses,” she said.
Rebecca Bernhardt, the project’s executive director, said motorists who cannot pay face a stark choice – stop driving, which may mean losing or not getting work, or drive anyway and risk arrest.
“We don’t think it’s a very good program,” Bernhardt said. “In Austin, they were jailing people for up to 40 or 50 days in some cases.”
Many of those, she added, were single parents.
“Conceivably, if you’re in jail for 20 or 30 days, you could lose your kids,” she said.
Judges can exempt motorists who cannot afford to pay from the program, she said, but doing so depends on lawyers and courts paying attention.
She estimates about 1.3 million licenses have been suspended under the program.
Efforts to end the surcharges bogged down in 2015, said DeWitt of the Association of Business, but they’ve have since been renewed.
Kroll, of the Hospital Association, noted those angling to get rid of them “haven’t come to the table with a solution” for replacing the money.
Huffines acknowledged that trauma care is important, but it shouldn’t be funded on the backs of the needy.
“I’m not interested in tweaking the program,” he said.
And, he said, the Senate report that recommended against a repeal “was wrong.”
Huffines said he plans a bill to abolish the program, replacing the trauma funds by cutting elsewhere. He also wants to wipe out a backlog of owed surcharges — about $2.2 billion worth.
“We’re not going to collect much of it anyway,” he said.
John Austin covers the Texas Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at jaustin@cnhi.com<mailto:jaustin@cnhi.com>.