Dump NC's draconian driver license suspensions

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Charlotte entrepreneur Veronica Pearson urges North Carolina to abolish debt-related driver license suspensions.

While North Carolina continues to outpace the country in economic growth and job creation, the state’s job creators are struggling to find enough employees to fill vacant positions.

To sustain North Carolina’s economic growth, it is absolutely essential that businesses are able to recruit new workers as they add new positions. Unfortunately, a large pool of recruits are hindered from joining today’s workforce because of barriers to obtaining driver’s licenses.  

Small business owners like me in North Carolina understand the critical importance of having access to a reliable workforce to sustain economic growth. Our state's law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to revoke the driver’s licenses of those who have not paid their traffic fines and fees or appeared in court in traffic cases. This results in not only more than 1.2 million North Carolina residents of driving age being unable to legally drive, it also limits access to potential career growth opportunities for these candidates, the majority of whom are low-income.  

And I am not alone in knowing that changes to the law are needed to expand the workforce. In a recent poll from Small Business Majority, more than 8 in 10 small business owners in North Carolina supported ending driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fines and fees. Small business owners know that having a license is such an essential part of not only being able to get to work, but also to achieve basic activities like going to the grocery store.

Many small business employees are left with no other choice but to risk additional fines and even jail time for driving with a revoked license–all because they’ve become overwhelmed by mounting, unnecessary fees that threaten to take away access to their livelihood.  

More than 95% of workers in the state drive to work. So, for most North Carolinians, not having a driver’s license means not having a reliable way to get to and from work.

Multiple studies have shown that a suspended license leads to loss of employment – 42% of people according to one study – and leads to much lower earnings for those who are able to remain employed. When current employees are no longer able to get to work, businesses are forced to undergo the costly process of recruiting, hiring and training new employees, which can cost thousands of dollars per employee.

And when thousands of other residents have opted out of the labor force because of their lack of transportation, there are not enough potential workers to recruit for open positions.  

Recognizing that debt-based driver’s license suspensions are counterproductive to court collections, economic prosperity, and public safety, 24 states, including Virginia, Texas, and Mississippi, have passed laws in the past five years to end or significantly curb such suspensions. The support for such reforms is bipartisan and broad-based.

Last week, Republican Representative Jason Saine and a bipartisan group of legislators filed legislation in the North Carolina House of Representatives, House Bill 888, to stop the practice of suspending licenses for unpaid fines and fees and lift all existing suspensions.

Instead, courts would be required to issue text message reminders, an evidence-based practice demonstrated to improve court appearance and collection rates. If passed, North Carolina would join the growing list of states making the wise choice to end this harmful practice.  

Ultimately, for the North Carolina economy to continue to outperform other states, companies must be able to recruit and retain the employees necessary to grow their business. Ending debt-based driver’s license suspensions would break down a needless barrier to work for hundreds of thousands of North Carolina residents, ultimately increasing productivity and profitability for businesses across the Tar Heel State.  

Veronica Pearson is owner of Dammi Media in Charlotte.  

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