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House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	August 31, 2016 03:56 PM
From:	Representative Jake Wheatley, Jr.
To:	All House members
Subject:	Legislation Establishing a Driver’s License Amnesty Program

In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that would establish a Driver’s License Amnesty Program in order to give individuals who have lost their license due to the inability to pay fines, fees and penalties an opportunity to restore their driving privileges by paying a reduced portion of the total owed. I believe this program would greatly benefit all Pennsylvanians, not just those who participate in the amnesty program, because it would mean thousands of individuals returning to a legal and insured status on our roadways. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, over one million individuals have a suspended driver’s license. Many of those suspensions are due to individuals’ inability to afford fines, fees and penalties associated with traffic violations. As a result of those suspensions, those individuals are also uninsured, thus if they get behind the wheel of a car, which is bound to happen, they are putting us all at risk financially. My legislation would require each participant accepted into the amnesty program to provide the Department of Transportation proof of insurance within 30 days, as well as retake and pass the driver’s test. Individuals whose original violation caused injury to another person or damage to property, along with repeat DUI’s, would not be eligible for the program. The legislation is based on a California program that began on October 1st of 2015 and is scheduled to continue through March 31st of 2017. Within the first 21 days of the program, Los Angeles alone received almost 40,000 applicants. This program is working in California, where drivers are now getting back on the road responsibly and with insurance, and it will do the same for Pennsylvania. I encourage all of my colleagues to join me in support of this important legislation.

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