Driver fees challenged across state

As The Rutherford Institute prepares for its appeal in the Charlottesville Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of Virginia’s abusive-driver fees, other legal challenges across the state are also playing themselves out. The challenges come at a time when state lawmakers are facing growing voter disgust with the fees.

Last month, an Arlington County General District Court judge ruled that the abusive-driver fees are unconstitutional in the case of Oscar Reyes Hernandez, who is charged with driving without a license. Under the new fees, he would face a civil fee of $300 per year for three years, along with any additional criminal fines.

Four General District judges have ruled that the fees are unconstitutional, though rulings in Henrico and Hanover counties were overturned by circuit courts. A case is still pending in Richmond.

Recently, Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert H. Downer upheld the fees’ constitutionality in a case involving The Rutherford Institute. The Institute is challenging the fees on behalf of a local motorist charged with reckless driving.  Local attorney Ned Michie, working on behalf of the Institute, is representing Terrence Lister, who was pulled over for driving 55 miles an hour on Ridge/McIntire Street at 1:30am. Michie says he is fairly sure that one challenge of the fees will make its way though the appellant courts to the State Supreme Court.

Rutherford Institute President John Whitehead says he thinks state lawmakers were surprised at the  backlash over abusive-driver fees. "I think they made a huge mistake," he says, "and they know it."

According to the Institute’s founder and president, John White-head, attorneys have filed a notice of appeal in Charlottesville’s Circuit Court. Lawyers are arguing that because the fees don’t apply to out-of-state drivers, they violate the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

The fees, which were instituted July 1, have drawn the ire of residents across the state. An online petition calling for the immediate repeal of the fees had 176,908 signatures, as of October 11. Many of the signers wrote that they would not vote for any politician that supported the fees.

One signer, Bonita Otey, wrote, "This is ‘highway robbery’ at its finest!"

Whitehead says he thinks state lawmakers were surprised at such a harsh backlash after passing the fees as part of the transportation bill, which is more than 40,000 words long and is the result of years of wrangling in the General Assembly. "I think they made a huge mistake," he says, "and they know it."

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