Get Kansans Back to Work: Eliminate the License-for-payment Trap

Driver’s license suspensions are a major barrier to maintaining employment, getting to the doctor’s office, taking children to school, and going to the grocery store. The system-wide practice of suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid debt dramatically impacts the economic wellbeing of the individual, household, and community. Research also shows Kansans of color and those experiencing poverty are disproportionately impacted by debt-related driver's license suspensions, and, on average, their suspensions last longer.

​Suspending an individual’s driver's license also wastes public resources. When courts and law enforcement agencies are spending time enforcing and processing license suspensions, they are being used as debt collectors instead of as institutions that advance public safety.

Reports have shown increasing fines and penalties on those who cannot afford to pay does not lead to an increase in collection, it only leads to an increasing amount of uncollected monies. There is not a good connection between suspending someone’s driver’s license and collecting their fine or penalty.

License-for-payment traps rig the system against those experiencing poverty. Suspending driver's licenses for unpaid fines or fees is simply bad public policy, and it's past time for reform.