GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — It’s hard to think of many laws more universally opposed than Michigan’s driver responsibility fee.
But even after it is phased out, there will be more than 200,000 people without valid licenses because they owed on the previous fees. However, that could change for many starting this month after lawmakers put an end to the driver responsibility fee.
“We have some people who haven’t had a license in 10, 15 years because of the driver responsibility fee and it’s not good for our society,” said Kentwood District Court Judge William Kelly, who has openly opposed the law since it first went into effect in 2003.
Kelly worked with legislators, most notably State Rep. Joe Haveman, R-Holland, for years to get the law repealed.
“Joe Haveman was the real hero in this,” Kelly said. “He was the chair of the (State) House Appropriations Committee and he persuaded all of his collogues to phase this bill out.”
Kelly appeared before a state House committee in May 2014 and told legislators about the human toll he has seen the fee take on people who are guilty of fairly minor offenses.
“It was a tax on the poorest people, it was double jeopardy,” Kelly said.