Wisconsin DOT Releases 106,012 Non-Driving Related Administrative License Revocations

The Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Employability Praises the DOT and Lawmakers

Madison, WI —The Wisconsin Department of Transportation released 106,012 non-driving related administrative license revocations this past weekend pursuant to Wisconsin Act 102, which received bipartisan support in the state legislature and was signed into law by Governor Jim Doyle on February 4, 2010. The law ended the automatic license revocation on the 4th Operating While Suspended (OWS) conviction to make such revocations discretionary with judges.

The bill allowed the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to apply the law change retroactively, which it did over the weekend. The Department released 106,012 of these non-driving related administrative revocations that had occurred over the past decade, positively impacting over 40,000 low-income drivers. Revocations that were ordered by judges were not released.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation, judges, law enforcement, district attorneys, and the Wisconsin State Public Defender all supported this critical reform as it will end thousands of unnecessary, non-driving related license revocations and give law enforcement, judges, and the Department of Transportation more time and resources to focus on serious traffic violations that threaten public safety.

The Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Employability advocated for this bill as part of its goal to limit license suspension and revocation to unsafe driving. The group has demonstrated that non-driving related driver’s license suspensions and revocations disproportionately affect people who have low incomes in all areas of Wisconsin and that a valid driver’s license increases wages.

The Honorable James A. Gramling, Jr., a retired municipal court judge in Milwaukee and pro bono attorney for the Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Employability, points to the pragmatism of the law change, “The legislature and governor looked at the data and found correctly that this type of revocation was doing more harm than good and the DOT acted efficiently to apply the law retroactively.

We are hopeful that the next legislature and future administration leadership will pay the same attention to facts and make sensible, muchneeded reforms to traffic law.”

The Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Employability was established in March of 2007 to increase the number of licensed low-income drivers in Milwaukee County. The Center is part of Wisconsin Community Services (WCS), which advocates for justice and community safety, providing innovative opportunities for individuals to overcome adversity. Other major partners of the Center include the City of Milwaukee Municipal Court, Legal Action of Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Posted @ 9:53 p.m.