Michigan Votes Forum

Introduced in the House on April 25, 2007

Click here to view bill details.

this is like double jeopardy. i think it is wrong and punishes a person twice for the same offense.

These fees are illegal, unconstitutional and grossly immoral. Once you pay your fine you are done, regardless of what queen jenny thinks.

You know this law is illegal. Just do the right thing for once and end it. Maybe if you guys did what was right instead of trying to buy votes more folks would like you. The vast majority of us are in the middle, not out to the left of barney frank.

the driver responsibility fee was enacted by a legislature dominated by so-called "conservative" Republicans. they are big "cut taxes but institute 'privilege' fees" boosters. but i agree with you that most of us out here in the public are middle-of-the-road types who don't have much use for either the left or right extremes and extremist approaches.

This should be against the law. It is in law is called double jeopardy. A person can not be charged twice for the same crime. Why dose this branch not follow the correct judicial system? It is acting illegally without the due process. There is no way to fight it, because it is acting outside the court system, therefore is illegal.

My son was out of work as a lot of people are in Michigan. He couldn't pay the ticket because he was out of work and had a young son. He then got pounded with a "Driver Responsibility Fee" which he couldn't pay because he was out of work. He is pulled over frequently and not issued tickets or even told why he has been pulled over. If he moves with traffic, he is the one to get pulled over and issued a ticket; and then another "Driver Responsibility Fee". This is illegal and needs to be stopped.

"You know this law is illegal. Just do the right thing for once and end it. Maybe if you guys did what was right instead of trying to buy votes more folks would like you. The vast majority of us are in the middle, not out to the left of barney frank." Actually, this bill was sponsored by Senator Jud Gilbert, a Republican. This law is regressive; it has no provisions for economic hardship, so it has the greatest impact on people who are just getting by. Such laws are not something you would see coming from the left, especially someone "out to the left of barney frank." If you want to comment on the law, I'd suggest writing to your both your representative in the state house, your state senator, and to the bill's sponsor. To make the last easier, Senator Gilbert's email address is: senjgilbert@senate.michigan.gov.

This really isn't double jeopardy, as many of the offenses in question are considered civil rather than criminal. Additionally, you aren't being tried a second time for the same crime; you had already admitted responsibility or been responsible for the infraction. However, it does seem like a way to disguise excessive fines as fees; I'd argue that in such a light it could be seen as violating another section of the Bill of Rights, the Eighth Amendment, which has a prohibition on excessive fines: "Excessive bail shall not be required, NOR EXCESSIVE FINES IMPOSED, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

SOMETHING unconstitutional about it... thanks for clarifying that for us. it only brings to light ONCE AGAIN the disdain that the legislature has shown for the rights of the citizen.

reckless driving is a misdemeanor so it is double punishment. This law was illegal when it was enacted and should be ended and all the booty refunded with interest to the victims. If you owed the state money they would make you pay interest. End this stupidity now.

Watch woodTV8 tonight at 11pm. Probably one of the last news reports they'll do on this asinine law for a while. Hopefully some questions will be answered as to how people are dealing with the fines and what's being done to repeal this bullshat law. www.blogs.woodtv.com/?p=1926

I hope Jennifer Granholm dies in a car fire after being pinned in her limo by a Hummer driver talking on her cell phone.

i will say this. i'm not a kid ----i'm 42 years old. my license has been suspended, now i don't dare to drive to work. here's the thing: how do i ever resolve this, i've paid my fines for tickets but apparently for the state of michigan that's not good enough. i got pulled over for a burned out tail light and i seriously had no idea what drf's were? i thought they were for drunk drivers, until, i literally lost my home. even the police think it's bulls$#@. Before a year ago, I have never ever had a ticket in 25 years. Thanks Govenor Granholm. Btw, i have tried her directly and go figure, no response at all.

i think that paying a fine twice does equal double. whether its double jeperody, i don't know, but I can tell you it's double the ticket. i've paid 3500.00 in tickets, but apparently, thats not enough. i don't have a dui btw, i just seem to have gotten trapped by losing my business. it's all about money and fines not about safety . now what? i can't go to work because i have no desire to go to jail.

I was born and raised in Michigan, went to MSU, then moved to Chicago for a better life where I practice law and make a decent living. My brother, who just graduated from CMU, is following the same route. He was hit with this ridiculous Driver's Responsibility law and has paid in excess of $1900 to the State of Michigan, partly because he tried to appeal the fine. Great job Michigan Legislature and Granholm! Your economy is in the toilet, unemployment is skyrocketing, so go ahead and make up the revenue loss by raping your very own citizens through outlandish fines when they need help the most. Pathetic!

Here is a petition to revoke that idiotic law. Granholm and legislature, get your head out of your A$$! http://www.petitiononline.com/mdrl06/petition-sign.html

Someone said this law is illegal. It isn't illegal, it just stinks. However, the irrational, and silly, posts on this siet, won't help. Write your rep, and make an a rational argument.

These fees are not against the law, nor are the "double jeopardy." You are paying locally, and then to the State itself. However, the laws do stink. write your rep. As for the right wing loons on this site blaming Gov. Granholm-this is a Republican law. The same Republicans who support Free Trade laws specifically aimed at destroying Michigan's economy, and undercutting the power of the Unions. Thank you for electing complete fools to our State and National governments; and for massive wage differences, the war in Iraq, Free Trade, lax immigration laws (recentley changed by a democratic congress that has been in power for only 5 months, as opposed to 12 years of right wing loons), soaring gas prices-leading to rising inflation and a huge increase in the costs of basic necessities, like groceries, and a massive increase in the number of people without health care and/or are living in poverty. You have only yourselves to thank for the continuous attacks on Michigans economy leading to the economic shortfalls (thanks Gov. Engler) that led to this law. It doesn't matter how many times republicans say the word "terrorist", the situation in this nation is still terrible.

We don't want tier 3 law students in Michigan.

Quit driving drunk and breaking the law.

it's almost any charge. being 'out and about after 02:30' will get it for you too. it seems that cars on the road at 2:30 a.m. are cosidered FAIR GAME, to be pulled over and harassed at will.

the democrats waited until NOW to fix all these problems, instead of doing it during the THIRTY PLUS YEARS that they were 'in power'. by the way, our currend democrat is tearing this state apart, and she's had FOUR YEARS to fix it. and by the way, the congress HASN'T addressed that little problem you mentioned, it hasn't gotten out of committee. but thanks for the hate speech anyway.

"Quit driving while having had a beer that day and breaking one of countless laws designed primarily to ensnare and extract money from the average citizen in order to feed goverment's hungry gaping maw." I fixed that for you (you're welcome.)

how about "quit driving at 2:35 a.m." that was the only thing i was guilty of. i was on my way to pick up a nieghbor who was a bartender, because his truck wouldn't start. all three times i got stopped, i was acting as a designated driver and had not had ANY drinks. imagine the look of terror on the face of the nice officer when the breathalyzer said "0.0" imagine the even MORE horrified look on the officer's face when the blood tests came back negative. imagine the EVEN MORE horrified look on the officer's face when he realized that he didn't ticket me for why he stopped me, and couldn't 'make something up' at the last minute. now, try to imagine the look on his WATCH COMMANDER'S FACE when my attorney handed him the little blue paperwork notifying him of the pending federal lawsuit. don't assume that EVERYBODY on the roads at that time has been drinking.

It's good advice to write your state representative and senator, instead of to this bulletin board. And the Governor, too. Just don't expect to hear anything in return. I have written my representative, who co-sponsored the scheme to reduce, but not repeal, these traffic-ticket surtaxes. I explained that this law needs to go away altogether, due to the terrific social problems being generated by tens of thousands of immobilized, unemployable former driver's-license holders. I asked him to explain the rationale behind his bill. That was almost two weeks ago, and no response so far. None of my last several state reps or senators have ever responded to my letters. The last state representative I got an actual letter back from was Lynn Jondahl, so you can see how long these guys have been ignoring us. It's true that this was originally a Republican "get-tough-on-scofflaws" bill. Current Republicans have admitted as much in last year's House hearing. But I strongly suspect that the resistance to repealing this scheme is coming from the Granholm administration. This is why the Democratic bills cut, but don't repeal, the responsibility fees, and why House Democratic leaders haven't moved on any of them. But the longer the Democrats delay repealing this law, the more they will have to answer for to working-class voters who thought they could trust them.

2nd tier here, and that's fine with me considering my salary is almost twice what it would have been in Detroit/Lansing/Grand Rapids. 1st tier students from U of M don't stick around MI anyway, at least the smart ones don't.

That's why I put the "and quit breaking the law" part in there.

I just said "quit driving drunk and breaking the law." You can add all the nonsense to it you want and keep imagining things in your drug addled world, but the fact of the matter is that if you would just get with society, and follow the laws, you wouldn't have these problems. I laugh at you.

You may want to purchase a U.S. News and World Report.

Good bye.

you laugh when you have to pay the driver's responsibility fee for the broken taillight. or the 'improper turn' or the 'failure to yeild (fast enough) when the nice officer pulls you over'. if you agree with these usurpations of citizenship, then you are one of the usurpers. it's not just a simple matter of obeying the law, as it is not just attached to any one law.

not drunk have to pay the fees. some people have to pay the fees for parking tickets. let's get rid of this ridiculous law that fines you twice for ONE offence.

"u would just get with society, and follow the laws, you wouldn't have these problems." That's right!!! And Rosa Parks should have just shut her trap and Followed The Law. Those disruptive Boston Tea-Partiers too. And Suzette Kelo. And those Berlin Wall tearer-downers. Troublemakers, the lot of em. How *dare* they oppose the Law of the almighty State!!! ALL HAIL THE STATE!! ALL HAIL THE STATE!! "I laugh at you." Not really. You're just intoxicated by your own flatus, your head being shoved so far up there.

I have paid a total sum of $1400 due to the Drivers Responsibility Fee. This is such an exorbitant amount of money and yet they want me to pay more! First of all, I DID NOT drive drunk. Second of all I was only busted for speeding. Third of all, they should be paying me about now!! As far as I'm concerned, Michael Reynolds and Jennifer Granholm can go find some other crooked politician that gives a flying xxxx, and leave me the hell alone!

I think you are fruit loops really or a damn Commie a person should only have to deal with the Courts and the Judge when they get in trouble with the Law over any kind of violation ,i think you have been living under the Governors Skirt to long.

this is certainly Double Jeopardy what are you DUMB,a person need only deal with the Courts and a Judge not the Treasury of the State you are totally wacko and not a American.

These laws didn't go into effect until after those "thirty yrears."

Nice post. Typical. Those who don't agree with you are "dumb" and "not an american." Thank you George Bush.

Did you actually compare breaking traffic laws with tearing down the Berlin wall, Rosa Parks, and the Boston Tea Part? Still laughing.