"Driving while poor" shouldn't be a crime in Ohio. But as cleveland.com reporters have outlined in their Justice for All series, suspending a low-income Ohioan's driver's license, and the cost of reinstating it, can make it challenging or impossible for such Ohioans to travel to and keep a job.
That's an overly harsh punishment. Besides the unfairness to low-income Ohioans, driving-under-suspension cases that are underlain by economic need can also clog the municipal court system in many communities.
Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Suzan Marie Sweeney told cleveland.com reporter Peter Krouse that driving under suspension is the most common first-degree misdemeanor charge in her court - and that many defendants rack up thousands of dollars in license reinstatement fees.
A recent survey found that only North Dakota had a higher percentage of suspended drivers than Ohio, Krouse reported.
Fortunately, thanks in part to the cleveland.com series, legislation co-sponsored by two Cleveland-area lawmakers has made a temporary solution available to Ohio drivers via an amnesty program running through July.
Ohio's Reinstatement Fee Amnesty Initiative was created by House Bill 336, which then-Gov. John Kasich signed Aug. 3, and which Rep. Dave Greenspan, a Westlake Republican, and then-Rep. John Barnes, a Cleveland Democrat, sponsored. Greenspan has said that if the amnesty program is successful, he will introduce legislation to make it permanent. Good.
The Barnes-Greenspan law requires the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to reduce or waive license reinstatement fees for drivers whose licenses were suspended for a broad list of offenses and who meet other eligibility requirements.
The amnesty program began Jan 31 and will end July 31. A driver can apply for fee reductions at BMV offices or on the BMV website but applications for a full waiver of fees must be submitted by mail, postmarked no later than July 31.
Amnesty applicants should fill out BMV Form 2829, also called the BMV Reinstatement Fee Amnesty Application. The forms can be downloaded at the link below, or obtained from BMV offices, online at bmv.ohio.gov or by calling 614-752-7500.
More information on the BMV program is here.
The Greenspan-Barnes law is an excellent first step to keep suspensions from holding back low-income Ohioans striving to better their circumstances. Greenspan should follow through as promised to make the amnesty a permanent feature in Ohio law, while keeping a close eye on the program over the next six months, to tweak its requirements as needed.
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