LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- A plan to forgive hundreds of millions in unpaid driver responsibility fees is in the works in Lansing. A bipartisan group of lawmakers rolled out the proposal Thursday.
State House Speaker Tom Leonard says there are hundreds of thousands people in Michigan whose licenses have been suspended because they owe big surcharges tacked onto traffic fines.
The fees were adopted by the Legislature during the recessions of the 1990s to help balance the budget.
Leonard says that’s not fair, and it hits low-income people the hardest.
“It’s time that we end the unjust penalties that they have that, starting October 1st 2018, that we grant them amnesty and allow a hundred thousand citizens of our state to obtain a driver’s license and get a job,” he says.
The plan would also immediately forgive the fees of people who are on a payment plan.