The Public Safety Commission met today but did not take up proposed (though still unveiled) new amnesty and indigency rules for the ironically named Driver Responsibility Program, I was told by a reliable source. This person indicated it would be taken up next month, but then I was also told it would be taken up this month, and back in September ...
These delays and an ominous silence from within the agency about what changes have been made to the original proposal make me nervous, but I'm trying to remain hopeful that this news doesn't mean they're weakening the proposed amendments behind the scenes.
RELATED: Thanks to a reader for pointing me to this recent column by state Sen. Eliot Shapleigh on the DRP rules, arguing that "Our founders never intended for debtor’s prisons to substitute for a tax system."
Gonna take the optimistic stance and suggest that it means they're gonna delay till it won't impact primaries (well, OK, maybe till after it won't impact elections, either). They're going sane.
ReplyDeleteWhich would be spun as "soft-on-crime."
But then, my glass is half-full.
well... according to http://www.shapleigh.org/news/3801--grover-s-tub-debtors-prisons ...nothing will be happening till 2011!!!!! ONCE AGAIN THIS CONTINUES TO RUIN MY LIFE!!!!!! WHEN WILL IT STOP!!!! DO THEY NOT WANT MONEY?! LOWER MONTHLY PAYMENTS TO SOMETHING I CAN MAKE! PROTESTS IN THE WORKS!?
ReplyDeleteIts fair to assume that thousands of Texans are being beaten down by the excessive fees imposed by DPS. It seems that the legislature will put excessive fees and fines on Texans so they can claim they don't raise taxes. Hats off to Sen. Shapleigh for trying to do something about this unjust burden placed on our fellow Texans. Is it true that the retired State Rep. from Williamson county who sponsored this fee was given a Dwi which was dismissed last year? Don't know about the merits of the dwi charge, but he, unlike many citizens, no doubt had representation that enabled him to beat the charge and not get penalized by the dps surcharge he authored.
ReplyDeleteSo even though the law says they have to implement an amnesty/indigency program by last September, the DPS just essentially says "The law is for the public to follow, not the DPS."
ReplyDeleteI would think that a willful refusal to implement the law as required would be grounds for dismissal. And one would think that any tough-on-crime legislator would be interested in making sure the laws of the Great State of Texas are followed by every individual or organization in this state.