Whatcom Prosecutor: ‘We must stop using courts and laws to act as debt collectors’

The role of a prosecuting attorney is to hold individuals accountable for their actions and keep Washingtonians safe. Every day, I and my staff hold individuals accountable for crimes against our state and those within it. It is important that we spend as much of our time and resources as we can on this mission and providing safety and security to victims. However, it is not our desire, nor our job, to punish people for actions outside the public safety sphere.

That is why I am opposed to the current practice of suspending Washingtonians driver’s licenses for failure to pay traffic tickets. This counterproductive practice leads to escalating fines, fees, and even criminal charges for driving on a suspended license — and there are other, better, and more productive ways to encourage Washington residents to pay fines. Driver’s licenses are essential to our ability to navigate and succeed in modern society, and they should not be suspended or taken by the government unless someone has harmed community safety.

This year, the Washington legislature has an opportunity to eliminate this harmful policy. Senate Bill 5226, sponsored by Sen. Jesse Salomon (D-Shoreline), will eliminate the practice of suspending licenses for non-public safety reasons while strengthening accountability measures, and the measure has already passed in the Senate with support from both sides of the aisle. The bill rights past wrongs by reinstating individuals’ licenses who were suspended for a reason entirely unrelated to public safety: failing to have the money to pay a court fine. This bill will go a long way in focusing my office, and law enforcement’s resources, on protecting the public’s safety, instead of criminalizing poverty.

Critically, licenses suspended for failure to pay can result in a misdemeanor (punishable by jail time or additional fines). This offense, Driving While License Suspended — 3rd Degree, is a crime that results when an individual is stopped for driving on a license suspended for failure to pay a traffic fine. This is the most charged crime in the state of Washington and has cost the state over $1.3 billion in enforcement costs. Over 1.5 million criminal charges have been filed, leading to almost 1 million convictions. This is a significant waste of critical public safety dollars and does not protect Washingtonians from unsafe drivers. And, while many prosecutors, including myself, have stopped charging individuals with Driving While License Suspended — 3rd Degree, others have not, and it may still lead to custodial arrests in many jurisdictions (and criminal history for an individual). This legislation will standardize practices across the state, leading to the same consequence for the same offense in each county.

This bill also, importantly, strengthens accountability measures for reckless and dangerous drivers. Currently, Washington allows for six traffic infractions in a year before suspending a driver’s license — far higher than surrounding states. This bill would bring the state into alignment with surrounding states and suspend driver’s licenses after three infractions in one year or four in two years. It would also require drivers to complete a state-endorsed safe driving class before having their license reinstated. And this bill does not change existing law that requires suspension for driving under the influence or other criminal offenses.

My office and I are committed to continuing to protect the safety of Whatcom County. However, to effectively do so, we must stop using courts and laws to act as debt collectors, and instead use them to protect our residents and hold individuals accountable. Senate Bill 5226 will do that: keeping our roads safe without penalizing residents for an inability to pay court fines and fees. I urge the legislature to pass this bill and continue working in future sessions to decriminalize poverty by eliminating the remaining paths to suspending driver’s licenses, such as missing hearings related to payment plans, that are not covered within SB 5226.