Texas insurance glossary
Driver Responsibility Program
The Driver Responsibility Program was the Texas system of annual surcharges for certain convictions, repealed in 2019 with its outstanding surcharges waived.
It ran from 2003 and charged drivers an annual surcharge for years after certain convictions — DWI, driving without insurance, accumulated points — separately from any fine the court imposed. Non-payment suspended the license, which is how a single conviction turned into years of suspension for people who could not clear it.
The Legislature repealed it in 2019 and the outstanding surcharges went with it. Licenses suspended only for unpaid surcharges became eligible again.
It is in this glossary because the wreckage is still around: people who stopped driving legally during it, and people who assume a surcharge they were once billed is still owed. License Eligibility is the way to check rather than assume.
Sources: Texas DPS — suspensions and reinstatements; Texas DPS — reinstating your driver license or driving privilege; Texas Transportation Code ch. 521 — Driver's Licenses and Certificates. Verified .
A definition, not legal advice and not a quote. Rules and figures change; confirm your own situation against the source named above, or with us, before you act on it. Last checked .
Where this is handled
A definition does not file anything. When the suspension date is closer than the research, one independent agency on FM 1959 can transmit the SR-22 to the DPS and tell you what the state wants before you pay anyone anything.