The Driver Responsibility Fees (DRF), created in 2003 to flag bad drivers with additional fines as a way to balance the state’s budget, will end a year early under legislation signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder Thursday.
The fees were scheduled to end Oct. 1, 2019, but under the eight-bill package, the Department of Treasury has to stop collecting outstanding fees, estimated to be $637 million on more than 300,000 drivers.
The bills also eliminate the $125 charged by the Secretary of State to reinstate a license that was suspended because of the unpaid DRFs through the end of the year.
“What a great day for Michigan drivers,” said Secretary of State Ruth Johnson in support of getting rid of this “automatic double-penalty.” “Too many Michigan drivers lost their license because of Driver Responsibility Fees that didn’t promote public safety but did make it harder for people to pick up their kids from school or get to work.”
The bills