The cost of restoring a suspended driver’s license or vehicle registration in Maine will increase by $15 next week under new provisions approved by the Legislature.
Effective July 1, the reinstatement fee will increase from $35 to $50 on suspended licenses only. Regular license renewals will remain at the current rate of $35.
Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said the increase will generate $1.1 million in new revenue, but added that revenue is only part of the rationale.
“The Legislature has grappled with these policy issues for a long time, and felt it was appropriate to send a strong message about the responsibility of drivers to behave safely in order to keep their driving privileges intact,” Dunlap said. “Despite all the work that has been done to toughen our laws and increase penalties, these dangerous activities persist.”
The fee increase was included in the 2010-11 biennial budget bill, which was passed by the Legislature in May. The license reinstatement fee, after an operating under the influence suspension, was already increased to $50 last year; this new provision increases the fee following any suspension.
Dunlap said unpaid fines, multiple violations and unpaid child support are a few of the reasons a driver might have his or her license suspended.
Dunlap said the state suspends approximately 85,000 licenses per year with 70,000 of them involving Maine residents. Drunk or impaired driving suspensions tally around 10,000 per year. There are slightly more than a million licensed drivers in the state, of which about 8 percent have their licenses suspended at some point.
“The Legislature felt that it was time to send a message,” Dunlap said. “This is not a ‘gimme.’ This is to show that there is a consequence to losing your license.”
Dunlap said, in his experience, it takes time for a deterrent such as this to result in a measurable effect.
“Sometimes it takes a couple of years, then they get hit with a fee,” he said. “It does act as a deterrent to a certain extent; people often don’t get themselves in trouble again after paying a fine.”
For someone with multiple infractions, though, reinstatement fees can mount because they apply to each infraction. Dunlap once saw someone pay more than $1400 to have a license reinstated.
“It’s kind of sad, but you push where it works,” Dunlap said.
Instituting the increases won’t be difficult or expensive, requiring only “minor programming” of the state’s computer systems, Dunlap said.
This provision was inserted into the budget bill late in the process during Appropriations Committee deliberations.
Sen. William Diamond (D-Windham) Senate chairman of the committee, said the idea came from members of the committee and was supported by House Minority Leader Joshua Tardy (R-Newport). Tardy did not return a call seeking comment.
“As a deterrent, it seemed like a logical place to raise the fees,” Diamond said.
