Skip to main content
Gov. Kate Brown is continuing her cleanup of Oregon’s criminal justice system in the waning days of her administration.
Having previously commuted the sentences of 45,000 people convicted on cannabis charges and cleared Oregon’s death row, Brown today announced she’s wiping out the fines in more than 13,000 traffic cases, which could have the effect of restoring driving privileges for more than 7,000 Oregonians who have had their driver’s licenses suspended for failure to pay fines.
“The inability to pay a traffic fine should not deprive a person of the ability to lawfully drive to work, school, health care appointments, or other locations to meet their daily needs,” Brown said a statement.
Brown is wiping out about $1.8 million in court fines, most of which her office says the state has already determined are uncollectible. Those fines are only for traffic violations—not misdemeanors or felonies.
In announcing the executive order, Brown’s office emphasized that the governor’s action is aimed purely at alleviating a financial burden. “The order expressly excludes misdemeanor or felony traffic offense cases, and it does not forgive restitution and compensatory fines owed to victims,” the announcement says. “Beyond nonpayment-related sanctions, none of the affected individuals have suspended licenses due to public safety-related sanctions.”
Brown’s office provided a longer explanation of the decision here.
Today’s order is part of a larger policy of decriminalizing poverty.
In 2020, Oregon lawmakers passed House Bill 4210, which ended the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for nonpayment of court fines. But the new law only applied going forward and did not offer relief to Oregonians whose licenses had already been suspended for nonpayment. Brown’s decision today offers a reprieve for people whose fines preceded HB 4210 and whose licenses could have remained suspended for up to 20 years.
“We know that suspending driver’s licenses for unpaid traffic fines is bad public policy—it is inequitable, ineffective, and makes it harder for low-income Oregonians to get ahead,” Brown said. “My action today will help alleviate the burden of legacy driver’s license suspensions imposed under a statutory scheme that the Legislature has since overhauled.”
