73K Suspended Michigan Drivers to Have Licenses Reinstated
About 73,000 Michigan drivers whose licenses have been suspended can now get back on the road, legally.
As a new law takes effect today (10/1), Michiganians who have had their licenses suspended due to failure to pay court fines or failure to appear in court for violations are eligible to have them reinstated.
The new law is part of a Michigan criminal justice reform package that was signed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer in January of this year.
However, it is important to note that the new does not reinstate licenses for drivers who have committed serious infractions or have had their licenses suspended due to dangerous driving activities.
“The revocation of a driver’s license has an immediate ripple effect on a person’s life, and to lose it for reasons completely unrelated to driving safely was unnecessarily punitive,” Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement.
Benson went on to say that the Michigan Secretary of State has been working to implement these changes in order to help Michigan residents get back on their feet and behind the wheel.
According to the Lansing State Journal, drivers whose licenses were suspended for failure to pay tickets or court fines or failure to appear in court are eligible under the new law.
This includes failure to pay court fines for the following:
- Open intoxicants in a vehicle
- Open intoxicants in a vehicle (passenger)
- Person under 21 transporting/possessing alcohol in a vehicle
- Person under 21 transporting/possessing alcohol in a vehicle (passenger)
- Minor in possession of alcohol
- Failure to comply with a civil infraction
- Person under 21 used fraudulent ID to purchase liquor
- Sold/furnished alcoholic liquor to a person under 21
- Felonious driving
- Controlled substance
- False report or threat of a bomb/harmful device (school)
- Holds placed on licenses for unpaid parking tickets will also be lifted