Like parents, DMVs ground 'bad' citizens

0 Comments | Insight on the News, March 16, 1998 | by Thomas D. Elias

In more and more states, DMVs have become enforcers of public morality, revolting licenses for offenses that have nothing to do with driving or automobiles.

Anyone worried about a government agency becoming Big Brother need look no further than the nearest Department of Motor Vehicles, or DMV. Federal law mandates that state DMVs lift driver's licenses of illegal aliens caught trying to reenter the country, for example, and deadbeat parents who refuse to make child-support payments. And some legislatures have begun making far wider use of DMVs and their constantly updated address and arrest records.

In California, lawmakers permit the DMV to revoke driver's licenses as punishment for infractions that have little or nothing to do with driving. New laws this year add to old ones on the books, granting the state the authority to suspend licenses for crimes such as growing peyote, playing boom boxes too loudly on buses or trains, using a slug in a vending machine, painting roadside graffiti, violating loitering or curfew laws, fishing without a license and using a fake ID to buy alcohol.

People convicted of a sex act with a prostitute in a car -- if that act occurs within 1,000 feet of a private home -- could lose their license. Anyone under 21 found operating a motorboat with a blood-alcohol content of 0.01 percent could lose his or her license for one year (or anyone over 21 caught with a content of 0.08 percent). A Californian convicted of using illegal drugs faces a six-month driver's-license suspension, even if the offense took place at home and had no relation to operating any sort of vehicle.

The profusion of license-lifting laws reflects the fact that driving is a more important privilege in California than in many other places because of the state's long commutes and general lack of mass transit. "It's more of a penalty in California than in most other places because of the distances and the fact that driving is usually the only way for people to reach their jobs," says Linda Lewis, director of public and legislative affairs for the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators.

Other states, such as Colorado, Arizona and Texas -- all of which have poor public transit -- have begun revoking licenses for nondriving offenses. But turning state motor-vehicle agencies into enforcers of social mores has drawn the fervent opposition of both civil libertarians and advocates of liberalized drug laws.

"Take deadbeat dads, for example," says Francisco Lobaco, who monitors traffic laws for the American Civil Liberties Union. "We know the computer that monitors them has inaccurate information on thousands of people in its data banks. But those computer records are now linked to the DMVs. So you can have a situation where someone who has been tracked inaccurately loses the ability to get a driver's license."

Adds Dale Gierenger, California coordinator for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, "Under the `Smoke a Joint, Lose Your License' law, it's a worse crime to have marijuana in your home than to engage in reckless driving and speeding. They don't have mandatory suspension for that."

Gierenger cites a 1994 National Highway Transportation Safety Administration report that shows alcohol as the leading cause of drug-related traffic accidents, while pot is a significant traffic danger only when combined with booze. He also notes that losing a license can be a severe penalty in California, often making it impossible to get to work.

Even California DMV administrators don't like the idea of their agency becoming one of the state's chief enforcers of public morality. "We're kind of a punishment agency of last resort for legislators at both the state and federal level," says California DMV spokesman Bill Madison. "These guys say they don't like some sort of behavior and then they try to figure out an appropriate punishment, and the best they can come up with is to suspend a driver's license.

"But when the legislators act and then the court tells us to suspend a license and cites the code section, we have no choice."