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Driver’s License Action Prevalence and Characteristics Report

Driver’s license suspension is a key tool available to child support agencies to encourage compliance with orders. However, there are growing concerns about the potential for license suspension to result in unintended negative consequences, and policymakers are reconsidering when this tool may be used effectively. In Wisconsin, the Bureau of Child Support recently updated its policy guidance about the use of driver’s license suspension when obligors have limited ability to pay via Child Support Bulletin 25-02. Given this evolving policy context, this report draws on administrative data to examine the use of driver’s license suspension in Wisconsin. We build off previous work conducted under CSRA 2022-2024 Task 5, which examined all license suspension types, by focusing on driver’s license-related actions specifically. We examine the prevalence of driver’s license suspension warnings (i.e., notices of intent to certify) and suspension (i.e. certification) actions, changes in the use of these actions over time, and differences in the likelihood of experiencing driver’s license suspension actions by obligor characteristics.

Data were drawn from the Kids Data System (KIDS). The primary sample (N=287,410) consisted of obligors who had received an initial enforcement letter during three periods of interest: 2015-2016 (preceding the 2016 Final Rule); 2018-2019 (following the final rule); and early pandemic years (2020-2021). We examine the prevalence of driver’s license suspension for progressively limited samples of obligors to isolate those that are most likely to experience license-related enforcement actions. We report across all time periods and by time period the prevalence of license suspension relative to obligors that received an enforcement letter and those that received an intent to certify a license suspension. Additionally, multivariate regression analyses allowed us to examine if certain obligor characteristics were related to experiencing a driver’s license letter of intent to certify or certification.

We find that about 17% of obligors who received an initial enforcement warning letter (EN01) went on to receive a notice of intent to certify a driver’s license and 6.5% had their driver’s license certified for suspension. Similar to findings from CSRA 22-24 Task 5, warnings (notices) occurred far more often than suspensions. For obligors who received warnings, two-fifths went on to experience a certification. A substantial majority of obligors with any license-related action experienced a driver’s license-related action; across all periods, 81% of obligors who received a notice of intent to suspend any license received that notice for a driver’s license. We observed an increase over time in the proportion of obligors on the lien docket who received warnings about the potential for driver’s license suspension, from 16% in 2015-2016 to 21% in 2020-2021. We also observed an increase in the proportion of obligors whose driver’s license was certified for suspension, from 6% in 2015-2016 to 8% in 2020-2021. We find differences in the likelihood of driver’s license suspension by obligor characteristics, including race/ethnicity, geography, income, and employment circumstances.

Categories

Child Support, Child Support Policy Research, Enforcement, Orders & Payments, WI Administrative Data Core

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