Governor receives bill allowing Illinois drivers three unpaid tickets before suspension | Illinois

(The central square) – A bill passed by the Illinois General Assembly would allow traffic offenders to receive three unpaid tickets per year before having their driver’s license revoked.

After Setback Earlier this year, state Rep. Justin Slaughter failed to advance a controversial traffic stop bill that would have prohibited officers from stopping people caught speeding up to 25 miles per hour. However, Slaughter pushed through another, more watered-down bill that House Bill 277Slaughter, a Democrat from Chicago, said the current law is unfair to lawbreakers and causes them problems keeping their jobs.

“HB277 is designed to modernize our processes for individuals who receive traffic tickets or minor traffic violations and fail to appear in court,” Slaughter said. “Current law gives our judges the authority to revoke an individual’s driver’s license if they fail to appear in court. From a fairness and justice perspective, this current process poses a significant challenge for vulnerable individuals trying to keep their jobs.”

Harrisburg Republican state Rep. Patrick Windhorst warned that if the bill becomes law, traffic offenders would no longer have an incentive to pay their tickets, creating problems for local authorities.

“My problem is that currently the law states that if people don’t pay a traffic ticket, their driver’s license will be suspended. That is obviously a big incentive for the person to pay their traffic tickets. If this becomes law, a person would get three unpaid traffic tickets before their license is suspended. So it is a big incentive not to pay the traffic tickets to the local government until the third traffic ticket,” Windhorst said.

Slaughter got HB 277 across the finish line and was ready to send it to the governor. Windhorst said local governments would now feel an impact on their budgets because traffic offenders are now allowed up to three unpaid tickets per year before their license is suspended.

“I believe this will result in lower revenues for local governments and put a strain on their budgets,” Windhorst said. “I simply cannot support this change.”

Slaughter said his bill would provide appropriate consequences for traffic offenders but would not jeopardize the defendant’s job.

“This bill is about saving jobs. Let’s help the most marginalized and vote yes,” Slaughter said.

Slaughter withdrew his first bill, which dealt with traffic violations. Bill 4603Had Slaughter not followed through, police would have been banned from stopping traffic offenders with tinted windows and expired license plates, as well as traffic offenders who failed to use their turn signals or changed lanes improperly.

In 2019, traffic ticket revenue was estimated to bring in more than $260 million per year to help ease Chicago’s strapped budget. For fiscal year 2024, Chicago faced a $538 million budget deficit. Chicago has been cutting back on revenue to promote “equity,” but Slaughter’s bill requires all municipalities to defer ticket revenue until a traffic offender has three unpaid tickets per year.