New law example of state's failure to effectively govern

JOEL RENDER

Staff Writer

Public policy formation and governing are supposed to be about two important goals: efficiency and effectiveness. Normally, most policy manages to accomplish at least one of these lofty expectations. However, every once in a while a policy fails on both fronts, and when it concerns the lives of many people, there is definitely a need for some publicity.

Of course, I am alluding to the Bad Driver Fee law passed last fall. This law was designed to recoup some of the debt that the state of Michigan currently maintains and was put into place last month. One of the areas of extra penalty involves a $300 fine for the failure to produce proper proof of insurance during a traffic stop.

Now, the law has come under attack and probably will be repealed. You might be wondering what is wrong with the law. Well, last month approximately 32,000 Michigan residents were hit with the proof of insurance penalties going all the way back to October when the law was first passed.

It is estimated that nearly half of the residents pasted with a fine actually have proper insurance and did not deserve to be levied with such a heavy fine. As a result, the Michigan Senate has passed a bill rebating any fines for this particular violation of the bad driver policy.

This taxing failure should have never even occurred in the first place. After all, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a bill to repeal this section of the act three months ago. The Senate is only now about to pass a bill that will probably repeal the insurance penalty.

If the penalty is removed, the state will lose an estimated $13 million in perceived revenue for the general fund this year. Considering this an unacceptable loss, the Legislature has responded by essentially replacing this section of the act with a stiffer penalty for exactly the same offense with only a few minor adjustments.

This complicated story is of course fraught with several examples of the state of Michigan’s lack of efficiency and effectiveness in governing. First, the Legislature failed to pass an effective bill after a series of debates. Second, the Treasury Department incorrectly assessed the number of drivers eligible for a fine.

As a result of this failure, the Legislature must again consider the issue. The new solution that they have suggested is strangely similar to the earlier policy that clearly failed on several fronts. Now it just remains to be seen the fate of this new possible bill, which many people already have expressed their displeasure with including some very influential members of the Michigan Legislature.

I know governing is definitely a difficult task, but it hardly seems that such outright failure can be possible given all of the intelligent men and women that have been elected to the highest positions in our state government. Perhaps, now we know why our state has amassed such a huge debt in just a few short years.

As citizens we need to be constantly aware of the new means that the government uses to regain some of its financial strength because quite frequently it involves removing the funds from our pockets. If you do not want this to happen to you with regards to this particular fine, then make sure you have the correct insurance in your car or you may find yourself slapped with a $400 fine.

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