Oregon Legislature Eliminates Fees for Reinstating Driver’s Licenses Suspended for Non-Public Safety Reasons
Justice Action Network’s Carl Filler: “As Oregon works to recover from COVID-19 and regrow the economy equitably, a driver’s license is a critical lifeline that will allow all residents to return to the workforce and contribute to our economic recovery.”
(Salem, OR) - With bipartisan votes of 36-20 in the House of Representatives in April and 26-3 in the Senate today, Oregon lawmakers passed important legislation to reinstate driver’s licenses at no cost to those who lost their licenses due to non-public safety reasons. House Bill 2523, sponsored by Representative Janeen Sollman (D-30) will eliminate reinstatement fees for those who have lost their licenses due to failure to pay court costs (no longer a cause for suspension under last year’s House Bill 4210), failure to appear at a traffic hearing, and failure to maintain proof of insurance (although the individual must have insurance). In response to today’s vote, Carl Filler, State Policy Analyst at the Justice Action Network, the country’s largest bipartisan criminal justice reform organization, issued the following statement:
“Last year, Oregon lawmakers boldly reformed driver’s license suspension practices by eliminating debt-based license suspensions. This year, legislators built on that success by expanding protections against unnecessary license suspensions and allowing for no-cost reinstatements for those who had a license previously suspended. We’d like to thank Representatives Sollman and Noble, and Senators Dembrow and Thatcher, whose leadership and support made this possible,” said Filler. “As Oregon works to recover from COVID-19 and regrow the economy equitably, a driver’s license is a critical lifeline that will allow all residents to return to the workforce and contribute to our economic recovery. We urge Governor Brown to quickly sign House Bill 2523 into law and help Oregon families get back to work.”
House Bill 2523, sponsored by Representatives Sollman, Alonso Leon (D-22), Campos (D-28), Dexter (D-33), Marsh (D-5), Pham (D-46), Power (D-41), Reynolds (D-36), Ruiz (D-50), Williams (D-52) and Senator Dembrow (D-23), eliminates Oregon Department of Transportation’s $75 license reinstatement fee when a driver’s license has been suspended for failure to appear at a traffic hearing, failure to pay a traffic ticket fine or fee, and failure to maintain an proof of insurance. In the case of failure to appear or failure to maintain proof of insurance, the individual must remedy the underlying suspension either by appearing in court or refiling their proof of insurance. Merely being unable to pay a court fine and fee is no longer cause for suspension; those individuals will be eligible for a no-cost reinstatement. This bill goes into effect in September 2021 and individuals will be eligible for a no-cost reinstatement until 2023.
HB 2523 now goes to Governor Brown's desk for her signature.