Lawmakers: Fixes Might Not Save Surcharge Program
Efforts to fix the problem-plagued Driver Responsibility Program ultimately may not shield it from the wrath of lawmakers.
The Public Safety Commission this month tentatively approved new rules for the program, a measure lawmakers approved in 2003 that attaches huge annual surcharges to certain traffic citations. The rules, which could be adopted in September, are meant to get more people to pay the fines and to salvage a revenue-generating scheme that many lawmakers have decried as a failure. Although the new rules are a step in the right direction, some lawmakers say the Legislature still may kill the surcharges entirely ...
Comments (4)
jerry barker
I personally Think That This Is Another Way For Texas To (control The Poor People !!) Trying To Pull Theirselves Out Of The Grasp Of A System To Regulate How We Live And Make This State ," Home Of The Weak ! There Is To Much Texas In The People ...Back Off Texas Government !!!!!
jerry barker
The Public Safety Commission this month tentatively approved new rules for the program, a measure lawmakers approved in 2003 that attaches huge annual surcharges to certain traffic citations. //////// And One More Important iIssue ...We As Texans Had No Vote In This Issue ,,, I Wasn't Ask For My Vote,To Say That This Is Wrong ! So They Make Dissions With Out Our Vote... Who's Running This State ????? Where's Our Governer ???
sarah moore
Those new rules havent helped anyone, all they do is give u a cut down installment payment, then if u miss a payment, u have to start all over again.....and further penialized for missing the payment. Fees are then given to you again with no credit of rescent payments. I am far into the poverty range and have small job and am not able to support my family if i cant get there. I risk myself everyday just to keep my electric on and food on my table. I believe if we pay for our tickets with courts, why are we paying on same crime again? Our constitution is suppose to protect us from such things, and law makers trying to make their own constitutional exceptions are wrong....Its no wonder texas has a deficit, we spend more money incarcerating people who are trying to do right and be productive members of society, than figure out a way to cut back on spending to better our economy. Being charged twice for the same crime is wrong and not in the constitution that built our country. Please repel this law, so people can put back into our economy, not held hostage to unemployment and their houses.
Paco Stanley
Mr. Gonzales
I would like to say thank you for fighting for us. The Texas Driver Responsibility Program is unfair and unjust.
It irritates me when I read what Dinah Welsh said "Drivers who are habitually reckless pay into the program," she said. "It's not for people who got one ticket. We've always thought that was a good connection — that reckless drivers help pay for the trauma system."
On ticket is all you need to fall into the vicious cycle.
I received a ticket for no insurance in 2006, I was in college when let my insurance expire, I needed the cash (bad Idea).
I was pulled over and got slammed with a no insurance ticket ( a $300 fine) , I ate Ramen Noodles for a few months and paid the $300 fine. Since the fine was more than the cost of the insurance, I learned my lesson and have kept my insurance up to date since. I received a letter in the mail a few month later, about 5-6 months, telling me that my Driver Licenses was suspended for not paying the surcharge associated with my no insurance ticket. I did not know anything about the surcharge and never heard of the Texas Driver Responsibility program.
I called DPS and was told that I had to pay $260 dollars for the next three years on top of the $300 fine for driving without insurance.
I tried to make the payments but money was tight so I just stopped paying. I am one of the luck few, I did not get pulled over once during this time.
Now that I am out of school, have a decent job, I decided to pay my surcharges. I called DPS and was placed on the payment plan and got my license reinstated.
Everything was fine until these last few months…
We had our hours cut at work so I had to make a few tough choices…
I cut the Cable, Internet and Netflix’s to make ends meet, then my alternator goes out and sets me back $221 at Auto Zone.
That set me back so I decided to skip the surcharge payment for this month and just pay in December and cut back on Christmas.
I figured if I just drove to work and back, I would not have any problems.
That was not the case.
I was pulled over for a headlight that was out.
The officer was nice enough to give me a warning for the headlight but, I received a $320 ticket for driving on a suspended license. On top of that, now I am going to have to pay another $100 surcharge for the next three years.
I don’t know how I am going to pay the $320 ticket and now I have another monthly payment that I won’t be able to afforded.
I don’t have many options left.
I have to pay the $320 ticket first or I go to jail. Since I have to do that, I can’t afford to make the payments on the surcharge.
My options are.
Do I keep driving to work on a suspended driver license, try to make a living and figure a way out of this vicious cycle?
Or,
Do I stop going to work for fear of getting pulled over, lose my job, live off the Government and become an Obama supporter?
Please continue to fight for us.
Thank you.
Struggling Texan.