{"id":4271,"date":"2016-03-30T13:42:49","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T17:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/?p=4271"},"modified":"2022-03-02T14:49:28","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T19:49:28","slug":"license-bill-signed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/30\/license-bill-signed\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts removes major roadblock to re-entry: unnecessary license suspensions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today in Massachusetts, <a href=\"http:\/\/boston.cbslocal.com\/2016\/03\/30\/drug-bill-massachusetts-low-level-offender-drivers-license\/?utm_source=twitterfeed&#038;utm_medium=twitter\">Governor Charlie Baker signed into law<\/a> a bill to end <a href=\"\/driving\/report.html\">driver&#8217;s license suspensions<\/a> for people convicted of drug offenses unrelated to road safety. With the passage of this bill, Massachusetts eliminates a 27-year-old law requiring automatic suspensions, plus a reinstatement fee of $500, for anyone found guilty of a drug offense. <\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.gov\/news\/governor-baker-signs-bipartisan-legislation-reducing-barriers-to-re-entry-for-individuals-convicted-of-drug-offenses\">statement<\/a>, Governor Baker acknowledged that access to transportation is critical for people seeking to find gainful employment and fulfill family obligations.<\/p>\n<p>While the new law will not bring relief to <a href=\"\/blog\/2016\/03\/17\/ma_licenses_compromise\/\">people convicted of drug trafficking<\/a>, others convicted of less serious drug offenses will see their licenses returned within 30 days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a bill to end license suspensions for people convicted of drug offenses unrelated to road safety, eliminating a major barrier toward successful re-entry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,1],"tags":[64,70],"coauthors":[32],"class_list":["post-4271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-briefings","category-uncategorized","tag-collateral-consequences","tag-drivers-licenses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13302,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4271\/revisions\/13302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4271"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}