Impacts and Financial Aspects of the Kansas Driver’s License Suspension and Revocation Process [April 2022‪]‬ The Rundown with Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit

Overseen by the Kansas Department of Revenue, the Division of Vehicles is responsible for suspending and revoking driver’s licenses. Suspended or revoked drivers must fulfill violation-specific criteria to have their license reinstated, and in some cases, they must also pay a fee. From 2019 to 2021, Kansas drivers paid about $18 million in fees to have their driver’s licenses reinstated. The fee revenue was allocated to several different state agencies and programs. From 2019 to 2021, the Division of Vehicles issued 176,000 driver’s license suspensions or revocations. Some Kansas drivers may have experienced financial or social hardships from their suspension or revocation. Fees and other financial obligations may have limited some drivers’ ability to get their license reinstated for less-severe violations. Most of the academic research we reviewed also suggested that the loss of driving privileges had a negative financial and social impact on people. Stakeholders we spoke to agreed that the loss of driving privileges could have a negative impact on Kansans, but recent changes in state law could help lessen that impact.