To the editor:
According to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Athens County’s unemployment rate was 3.9% in November 2023, with 1,100 unemployed residents in the county’s labor force. While the reasons for unemployment in any county can be varied, transportation obstacles are always a factor. In Ohio, suspending a driver’s license as a tool to collect debt rather than limiting this sanction to unsafe driving practices hurts both job seekers and Ohio’s employers. Yet this practice is pervasive across the state.
The Legal Aid Society of Cleveland’s 2022 report, “Road to Nowhere: Debt-Related Driver’s License Suspensions in Ohio,” found that approximately 60% of all Ohio driver’s license suspensions are based on a person’s failure to pay money owed to a court, to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), or to a private third-party. In 2020, there were 63,875 driver’s license suspensions and registration blocks in Senate District 30 alone, which includes Athens County. A stunning 65% of those suspensions were debt related.
Senate Bill 37, currently under consideration by the Ohio General Assembly, would limit driver’s license suspensions to convictions related to dangerous driving, and limiting the government’s authority to suspend, or refuse to renew a person’s license for exclusively the failure to pay a fine or fee.
Should a person’s ability to pay a fine or fee determine whether they are free to drive? I would encourage Athenians to learn more about this pending legislation and decide for yourselves.
Lucy Schwallie
Managing Attorney, Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio
Athens, Ohio
