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Criminal Justice Reform Bill Is A First Step Toward Fairness
Historical commentary: This article discusses legislation enacted in 2019. Its forward-looking references concern that period. The suspended-license explanation below was updated September 30, 2026; eligibility for other programs and relief must be checked under current law.
Tough on crime policies have been a disaster. Thousands of non-violent Floridians are rotting in prison because they made bad choices years ago, and politicians are finally starting to realize this comes at a great cost. Not only does it take a lot of money — $2.7 billion a year in taxpayer dollars — to house our state’s bloated prison population, it also tears apart families, messes with the labor market, and sows distrust in government. It is past time to make some changes, and Florida policymakers have taken notice. This summer, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a historic criminal justice reform bill into law.
We have previously blogged about the changes it made to the felony theft threshold, but that is not the only important update this new law makes.
Driver’s License Suspensions & Revocations
We have also blogged about Florida’s harsh driver’s license suspension laws in the past. Perhaps our call for change was heard by policymakers because the criminal justice reform bill makes some significant changes to the license suspension system that has trapped many people over the years.
The new law reduces the license suspension time for a drug conviction from one year down to six months, and courts will no longer suspend a driver’s license for a theft conviction unless the defendant is under the age of 18. Judges have also been granted the authority to be lenient when they are asked to suspend the license of a driver who is behind on his or her child support payments.
Driving With a Suspended or Revoked License
Under section 322.34, the driver’s knowledge, reason for the suspension, prior convictions, and any habitual-traffic-offender designation matter. A violation without the required knowledge may be a civil moving infraction; knowing violations can be misdemeanors or felonies under the applicable subsection.
Every third offense is not automatically a felony. The current statute generally treats a second or subsequent knowing violation as a first-degree misdemeanor, while specified third-or-later violations tied to DUI, chemical-test refusal, death or serious-injury traffic offenses, or fleeing/eluding may be felonies. Habitual-offender, commercial-driving, injury-related, and specified financial-suspension provisions require separate analysis. A lawyer should review the actual driving record and charging subsection.
The general third-or-later misdemeanor provision includes a minimum 10-day jail term, but special statutory provisions can alter the analysis. Neither “always a felony” nor “always a misdemeanor” accurately describes every suspended-license prosecution.
In order to get more drivers who have had their licenses suspended back to driving legally, clerks of court will now be required to hold at least one Driver License Reinstatement Day a year. During this event, the clerk’s office will stay open for extended hours, reduce some fines, and collaborate with the DMV to speed up the license reinstatement process.
Drug Court
Once this new law goes into effect, many more people charged with crimes will be able to opt into “problem-solving courts” like drug court and mental health court. Participating in one of these programs can get charges dropped or sentences reduced.
Occupational Licensing
Even after you have done your time, a criminal conviction can continue to haunt you. It can make it very difficult to find a job, and people without jobs are more likely to commit crimes. Once again, it’s a cycle of poverty and crime that the state is facilitating. But finally, Florida is doing something about this.
The new state law makes it easier for people with criminal records to get certain occupational licenses in fields that are regulated by state law. The law allows inmates to receive credit for training done while they are in prison, and forces licensing agencies to accept applications from prisoners.
Criminal Records
The new law also makes it easier to seal records when a person was arrested but not charged, the charges were dismissed, or the person was acquitted.
A First Step
While all of these changes are great, this new law should not be viewed as a one and done accomplishment. It should be the first step toward more and bigger reforms.
Our laws should evolve and change to fit the times we live in. There are still significant changes that must be made in order to make our system more just.
In the meantime, those of us at Valiente Law will continue to advocate for reduced charges and more lenient sentences for our clients. Prosecutors exercise charging discretion, while judges rule on legal grounds for dismissal and impose sentences within the limits of the law. We urge them to do so.
Posted in: Criminal Justice Reform