Governor, Wichita activists celebrate bill to reform traffic fines and court costs
Wichita legislators, Black community activists and Gov. Laura Kelly took a victory lap Friday on a new law to make it easier to get back on the road for people whose driver’s licenses are suspended over unpaid traffic tickets.
The measure, Senate Bill 127, is expected to have a substantial positive effect for tens of thousands of low-income Kansans who’ve been hit with traffic fines, court costs and late fees they can never realistically be expected to pay, the governor said.
“What have we got, 205,000 people with suspended licenses in the state of Kansas?” Kelly said. “We know that 60% of those are still suspended because they can’t afford the fees, not because the punishment is that much. They just can’t pay the court fees.”
Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat who was a driving force behind SB 127 at the Statehouse, said it’s a positive step.
“This has been a long, long legislative road to make this happen,” she said. “It’s been a labor of service.”
But, she said, there’s still work to do, addressing not just those under license suspension, but those whose licenses have been completely revoked for non-payment of fines.
She said she’ll introduce a bill to tackle that in the next legislative session in January.
SB 127 allows courts to waive traffic fines and court fees if a judge finds that “payment of the amount due will impose manifest hardship on the person or the person’s immediate family.”
The new law also removes a $25 nonrefundable application fee and other hurdles to getting a restricted license after a suspension for unpaid charges.
The restricted license allows driving to, from, and at work; also too and from medical appointments, probation and parole meetings, drug or alcohol counseling, court hearings, or anywhere else a person is required to go by a court.
SB 127 repealed what had been a 90-day waiting period between the time a motorist paid off back fines and when they could have their license reinstated.
The bill was heavily backed by prominent organizations in Wichita’s historically Black community, including the Wichita Racial Profiling Advisory Board, the Heartland Wichita Black Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Wichita Ministerial League, the Greater Mizpah Baptist Church and the NAACP.
Support ran the political spectrum, from the Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, an advocacy organization for low-income and minority residents, to Americans for Prosperity, a political group rooted in the low-tax, limited-government philosophy of Koch Industries and its chief executive, Charles Koch.
At Friday’s event, three Wichita-area Republican office holders shared the stage with the Democratic governor: Sen. Mike Petersen, Rep. Nick Hoheisel and Sedgwick County Commissioner Jim Howell. Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican who regularly clashes with the governor, attended the event but didn’t address the crowd.
SB 127 actually took effect March 6, shortly after its passage. Friday’s event was ceremonial and celebratory, a mix of state business and electoral politics.
The video wall at the Advanced Learning Library — the backdrop for the proceedings — bore the message: “Kelly Administration, putting Kansans back on the road and into the workforce.”
But it wasn’t all bouquets.
Rep. Gail Finney, a Wichita Democrat, praised the bill as a “bipartisan collaboration of the community and the Legislature,” and added, “I must say this is a big darn deal, OK?”
But Finney also raised the issue of revenue that would be lost by courts from waiving fees, which has been a stumbling block to reform at the Statehouse.
“Today I want to use my opportunity to speak and say I want to challenge the governor,” Finney said. “One of the hesitancies we’ve had with all the bills that we’ve introduced, that have gotten stalled in committees, is because there’s a $750,000 deficit to the judicial branch. I want to challenge our governor to help us find this $750,000 that would help liberate Kansans.”
Kelly arrived after the event was already underway and didn’t hear Finney’s remarks.
Asked about it after the signing, she said “I think that’s something we need to take a look at, I’m not prepared to say what we’re going to do about it right now, but I certainly think we need to look at that.”
Kelly likened the situation to another justice issue, prisoners serving long sentences that would be shorter if they were sentenced under current law.
“It’s like a lot of people who are in prison now, who were sentenced under old guidelines,” she said. “We probably need to be looking at them too.”
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Governor, Wichita activists celebrate bill to reform traffic fines and court costs."
