Pubdate: Wed, 16 Mar 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Globe Newspaper Company
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Author: David Scharfenberg

DEAL STRUCK ON DRIVER'S LICENSES FOR DRUG OFFENDERS

The state Legislature is set to repeal a 27-year-old law requiring a 
driver's license suspension for those convicted of drug crimes, such 
as possession, that have nothing to do with driving.

The final vote could come as soon as next week, and Governor Charlie 
Baker has signaled he will sign the measure.

Advocates say the suspensions have been a major impediment for former 
offenders trying to rebuild their lives. Without a license, it can be 
difficult to find work, take children to day care, and get to 
drug-treatment programs.

"We are so excited about this," said Cassandra Bensahih, director of 
the Worcester-based Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for 
Community Advancement. "Once you pay your debt [to society] and you 
come out of prison, you need an opportunity to move forward. It's a 
fresh start."

The legislation is the opening salvo in a larger effort to overhaul a 
criminal justice system still marbled with the tough-on-crime 
provisions of the 1980s and 1990s.

The driver's license effort attracted broad support from law 
enforcement, including Attorney General Maura Healey and the 
Massachusetts District Attorneys Association. But other proposed 
measures, like repealing mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, 
face stiffer opposition.

The Senate voted in September to repeal the driver's license 
suspensions, and the House did the same in January. But the House 
elected to keep suspensions in place for the most serious drug 
offenders: traffickers.

House negotiators were able to keep the drug trafficker carve-out in 
the final bill, which emerged from a House-Senate conference committee Tuesday.

Representative William M. Straus, a Mattapoisett Democrat who served 
on the conference committee, said lawmakers didn't want to leave the 
impression that they were "providing relief for drug traffickers," 
when the broader intent was to help lower-level drug offenders move 
on with their lives.

Senator Harriette L. Chandler, the Worcester Democrat who sponsored 
the Senate version of the bill, said she understood why the House had 
pushed for the change.

"We're so deeply concerned, as we should be, about the opiate 
problems and the substance abuse issues that we're dealing with, that 
we certainly don't want traffickers to appear to be getting . . . a 
deal," she said.

Chandler said traffickers make up a relatively small slice of those 
who have their licenses suspended under the current law. And the bill 
set for passage next week would allow traffickers to apply for 
so-called "hardship licenses," which would allow them to drive to 
work or school.

Former governor Michael Dukakis signed the suspension measure into 
law in 1989, saying he wanted to crack down on "neighborhood drug 
dealers who cruise the area looking for business and avoiding 
police." Supporters at the time also suggested the penalty could 
serve as a deterrent to drug use.

The state suspended the licenses of 5,431 people convicted of drug 
crimes in 2014, the length of the suspension varying with the 
severity of the offense. Possession means a one-year revocation, 
while trafficking carries a five-year penalty.

Once a suspension runs its course, ex-offenders are required to pay 
hundreds of dollars in reinstatement fees to get their licenses back. 
Many who are unable to afford the fees drive without a license, 
risking more fines and jail time.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom