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Urging the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to enact an amnesty program for the Traffic Court of Philadelphia whereby drivers who have lost their driving privileges for failure to pay outstanding traffic violations can have those privileges restored upon payment in full of all outstanding traffic fines, and applauding the leadership of Senator Mike Stack in authoring legislation to authorize the establishment of such an amnesty program.
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WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania continue to face unprecedented financial challenges arising out of our nation's ongoing financial crisis, placing even greater importance on collecting delinquent sums owed to the City; and
WHEREAS, There are currently 847,001 unpaid traffic tickets issued by the Traffic Court of Philadelphia and the total owed on these tickets is $177,712,441.00. Of the total owed on unpaid traffic tickets, $20,000,000.00 [so as not to start a sentence with a dollar figure]are in an active installment payment plan, leaving $157,712,441.00 in delinquent status; and
WHEREAS, Approximately one third of these unpaid traffic tickets were issued in the last three years, with a total delinquency of $43,465,225.00 and approximately two thirds of the unpaid tickets are older than three years, with a total delinquency of $134,247,216.00; and
WHEREAS, When an individual fails to pay an outstanding traffic ticket, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) assesses points against the individual's driving record. When those points exceed a certain amount, PennDOT must automatically suspend driving privileges. The assessed points also result in an increase to that person's automobile insurance premiums; and
WHEREAS, The payment of all outstanding traffic violations does not affect the length of time of a driver's license suspension or the amount of points assessed against a driver's record beca...
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