Driver’s License Suspensions and Child Support Non-Payment

Earlier this year, The Legal Data and Design Clinic assisted the Office of the Attorney General by providing testimony in support of House Bill 0580, which opposed driver’s license suspensions for child support arrearages. The rationale behind suspending licenses due to nonpayment of child support is that it would incentivize payment. Ideally, this process ensures that the custodial parent and the child receive their owed support. However, our analysis demonstrated that this consequence disproportionately targets obligees of certain races and socioeconomic backgrounds. Essentially, the law punishes obligees who may be unable to pay, rather than those who refuse to pay.

The data analyzed by the LDDC illustrates a large disparity in license suspensions between drivers of different races and socioeconomic backgrounds. On average, African Americans are almost 5 times more likely to receive license suspensions than Caucasian residents. Further, residents in counties with poverty rates lower than Maryland’s state poverty level of 9.1 (2018) experience a higher number of license suspensions. African Americans were the only racial group to experience substantially higher license suspensions in counties with poverty levels lower and higher than the state of Maryland’s poverty average. African American residents received an average of 9.3 license suspensions per zip code in the 12 counties with higher poverty rates than the state’s poverty level. In contrast, Caucasian residents in similar areas received suspensions at a rate 3 times lower than their African American counterparts.

An investigation by The Baltimore Sun led to similar results. The newspaper reported that the majority of child support debt in Baltimore ($233 million) is owed by 15,000 parents and clustered within 10 city zip codes (Wenger, 2020). The resulting license suspensions, sometimes as a result of very old debt or debt owed to the government in return for welfare paid for the custodial parent and child, make it impossible for the obligee to maintain employment (Wenger, 2020). This inability to work perpetuates the nearly inescapable cyclical poverty of the obligee, custodial parent, and children.

Despite the efforts of Baltimore City residents and organizations, the bill has died in committee. Its proponents hope to revisit the issue in later sessions.