WSMV Channel 4 TN leader wants statewide ticket amnesty program

TN leader wants statewide ticket amnesty program

Thousands of people who have been risking it on the road without a driver's license might be able to get their license back without paying all the fines they owe.

One lawmaker wants to give them a break and get more people back to work.

Many people know a $50 fine can turn into a $500 fine if you don't pay up, and it's been shown that after five or 10 years, most people never pay the fines.

But one lawmaker thinks they would if the cost was cut in half.

Rodney Polk catches the bus now when he wants to get around. Polk has an ID but not a license to drive.

Nine years ago, an unpaid $50 ticket ballooned to a $4,000 fine after a hit-and-run charge.

"And I just didn't get no license because when they said it was $4,000, I knew I didn't have that kind of money," Polk said.

And he is like some 700,000 Tennessee drivers whose license is either suspended or revoked right now, according to the Department of Safety.

"Sometimes people forget and don't pay those fees. Sometimes they just don't have the money," said State Rep. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville.

Gilmore wants to give people with big fines a break.

She is sponsoring a bill that would allow anyone with a suspended license to only pay half of what they owe if the fines have been outstanding five years or more.

"People need their driver's license to go to work, to go out and look for jobs, to take their children to school," Gilmore said.

She says it would also bring millions to the state.

Recent numbers show criminal courts in Tennessee are owed roughly $43 million in unpaid tickets. In circuit courts, that number is $17 million.

Still, Gilmore knows it might be a tough sell.

"I think some people see it as an amnesty program and feel like we are letting people get by, and they're not taking responsibility. I don't think that's the case. I think people just don't have the money," she said.

If this plan sounds familiar, the city of Memphis already has a ticket amnesty program, and Gilmore pushed a similar plan statewide two years ago. It didn't pass, but the discussion resulted in a pilot program for Davidson County.

But that pilot program is about to end, so in order for it to continue in Davidson County and begin statewide, the program must pass this legislative session.

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