Bill would let Ohioans with drug convictions keep license

COLUMBUS (AP) — Legislation that would make a driver’s license suspension discretionary rather than mandatory for nondriving drug convictions has been introduced in the Ohio Senate.

Ohio’s current law follows an edict developed by the federal government in the 1990s. Anyone convicted of a drug charge, regardless of whether a vehicle was involved in the crime, automatically receives a six-month license suspension.

State Sen. Bill Seitz, the Cincinnati Republican who recently introduced the bill to change that, said the law makes it difficult for hundreds of thousands of people in Ohio with suspended driver’s licenses for drug convictions to find a job.

He said those people are more likely to return to a life of drugs as a means of support.

“It never made much sense to have a license suspension in connection with a drug offense unless there is a vehicle involved,” John Murphy of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, told The Columbus Dispatch.