Legislators are studying a plan to tax motorists with drunken driving convictions or poor driving records.
By JONI JAMES
Published February 23, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - Some Florida Republican lawmakers, hoping to encourage better driving while raising money for roads, have a plan that would heavily tax bad drivers.
Under a bill endorsed last week by the Senate Transportation Committee, a three-year tax would be imposed on motorists who are convicted of drunken driving, accumulate seven points on their driving records or drive while their licenses are suspended.
Supporters of the proposal, including Sen. Jim Sebesta, R-St. Petersburg, call it an innovative way to deter dangerous driving, patterned after a 20-year-old law in New Jersey. That state has seen its deaths per mile rate drop during the past two decades, according to the National Highway Safety Administration. Florida has the highest death rate among the nation's 10 most populous states.
"What can we do to lower that fatality rate?" Sebesta asked. "We found out one state in particular has had a statute on the books for some time that has done a really admirable job."
But the idea came to Florida not from public safety officials, but from the information management company that has the contract to run New Jersey's program.
Affiliated Computer Services Inc., or ACS, told Sebesta about New Jersey's program last year.
If passed into law, the bad driver tax could generate as much as $100-million next year, legislative staffers said. By its third year, the program could bring in as much as $250-million, though staffers have warned that New Jersey's experience has shown that more than half of drunken drivers never fully pay up.
The law is endorsed by some of the key interests that stand to benefit from the money it would generate.
The bill the Transportation Committee approved last week would send 50 percent of the money raised by the tax to road building, 20 percent to hospital trauma centers, 20 percent to state trooper recruitment and 10 percent to services for brain- and spinal-injury victims.
Under the plan, drunken drivers convicted once would pay $1,000 annually for three years, in addition to other traffic fines. Those convicted of a second drunken driving offense would see the annual tax jump to $1,500. Drivers with a blood alcohol level of 0.2 percent or higher would face a $2,000 annual tax.
Speeders or other drivers with bad driving records would not be hit as hard. Seven points on a driving record would cost $100 annually for three years, with each additional point costing an additional $25.
Drivers could reach that threshold with just a pair of speeding tickets: three points for a violation less than 15 mph over the speed limit and four points for a violation more than 15 mph over.
Those caught driving without licenses would be charged $250 annually for three years.
It's far from the first time Republican lawmakers, who are leery of raising taxes that would hit a wide array of voters, have sought creative new ways to raise revenue to feed the state's needs.
Other lawmakers, including Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, suggested unsuccessfully last year that the state's tight budget would be well-served if traffic violators paid more for not buckling up or stopping at red lights. There are plans in both chambers to push such measures again this year.
Helping Sebesta in his efforts is ACS of Texas, a politically active firm that has multiple contracts with Florida agencies, including one that came under fire last month.
One of ACS's work groups, ACS Florida, came under federal and state scrutiny on charges that it falsified reports overstating its effectiveness in handling work force redevelopment efforts in South Florida. The company has blamed the faulty reports on sloppy workers, four of whom have resigned.
After donating at least $240,000 during the 2002 election, including $145,000 to the state Republican Party, ACS has beefed up its Tallahassee lobbyist ranks. Al Cardenas, former chairman of the state Republican Party, and Cynthia Henderson, former secretary of the state Deparment of Management Services, are among more than a dozen lobbyists registered to push the company's efforts with the Legislature.
ACS hopes to land the contract to administer Florida's program should the bill pass, said Frank Messersmith, a Tallahassee lobbyist for the company. But ACS fully expects it won't be the only bidder, he said.
