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Financial relief expected by this spring for thousands with debt-related license suspensions

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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed into law what will bring huge financial relief for hundreds of thousands of drivers.

People with some debt-related license suspensions could get their licenses back by this spring.

News 5 Investigators teamed up with the Marshall Project-Cleveland to report on this issue for more than a year.

Our reporting led to changes in legislation and culminated today with the governor’s signature on House Bill 29.

Ohio now becomes the 25th state to move away from debt-related penalties, according to the Ohio Poverty Law Center.

In August 2023, Marshall Project-Cleveland’s Mark Puente and I first brought the stories of people dealing with financial hardships.

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Some with suspended licenses risked driving to support their families.

Our reporting found Ohio had more than three million active license suspensions as of September 2022.

We also learned some people had as many as nine suspensions.

House Bill 29 eliminates license suspensions for not paying court fines and fees. It also does away with school truancy as a reason for a license denial or suspension.

The bill will also allow people who have suspensions for failing to pay child support to file a motion with the court for driving privileges.

Rep. Darnell T. Brewer said this is all about getting people back to where they need to be.

“It is a bill that will get people back to work, school, doctors appointments. We are going to free up so many individuals to get back on the road hopefully get insurance hopefully get insured get back to work,” Rep. Brewer said.

News 5 also spoke with Zack Eckles with Ohio Poverty Law, who was also at the bill signing.

“It’s a long time coming but a lot of people from different sides of the aisle came together and got it done and there’s still more work to be done too,” Eckles said.

Eckles said he’d like to see more reductions in reinstatement fees. Rep. Brewer hopes to address more with license suspensions this legislative session.

The law is expected to take effect on April 10, when license suspensions for not paying fines or fees will be removed both automatically and retroactively.

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