PA House Bill 163 Moving Forward in the Senate

Last week, we asked you to join PUMP, the Driven to Work Coalition, and PA state legislators in ending the practice of suspending driver’s license for minor offenses by advocating for PA House Bill 163. Thanks to all of you, House Bill 163 passed UNANIMOUSLY out of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Take a moment to thank the Senate Transportation Committee for moving this bill forward.

What’s next? Sign on and get ready.

Now, we need to make sure that all Senators hear our call and know we support ending the policy of suspending driver’s licenses for minor violations in order to get this bill passed and turned into a law.

Reforming the practice of suspending driver’s licenses is essential to the well-being of our state and our citizens. No driver’s license means no car. And all too often, no car means no job. “The best reason for Pennsylvania to discontinue this unfair policy,” noted Maxwell King and Matt Smith in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “is that programs like these overwhelmingly punish low-income people by trapping them in cycles of debt and poverty.”

We need you to help us ensure that this bill is passed before the end of the current legislative session – and there’s not much time left. Don’t let the consequences of a minor violation last a lifetime for PA residents. We’ll be calling on you soon to contact your senators as soon as House Bill 163 gets to the Senate floor to encourage them to vote yes.

To get ready for the next call to action, take two seconds to sign the petition today. Signing on will ensure that your voice is heard and that you can be kept up to date.

Learn more about the issue

Read the full op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Maxwell King (President and CEO of The Pittsburgh Foundation) and Matt Smith (President of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce). They highlight what’s wrong with Pennsylvania’s retro policy on driver’s license suspensions.