Ohio may soon reinstate the driver's licenses of hundreds of thousands of residents who lost the ability to drive because of unpaid court debts. The state General Assembly passed a bipartisan bill to end the practice last month.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is expected to sign into law House Bill 29. The bill would, among other provisions, end the state's practice of suspending driver's licenses for unpaid court fines and minor drug offenses; retroactively reinstate licenses previously suspended for those reasons; allow poor residents to enter into payment plans; and give a person who is in default on child support payments the opportunity to present evidence that suspending their license would prevent them from making future payments.
