British Columbians who default on student loans or fail to pay court fines soon will be unable to renew their driver’s licence or vehicle registration.

Insurance Corp. of B.C. already has the authority to turn people away if they have unpaid traffic fines or owe more than $3,000 in child support.

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Finance Minister Mike de Jong introduced legislation on Thursday that could expand the Crown corporation’s role as a government debt collector.

“We have about $186 million in defaulted student loans,” he said. “There’s still hardship relief that is provided. But for folks that graduate, get a job and are working, and decide that they just don’t want to take their obligation to repay their student loan seriously, this would be a mechanism to remind them — on a fairly regular basis — that they need to honour that obligation.”

The legislation also allows ICBC to refuse to renew licences for people with unpaid court-ordered fines for violating everything from provincial environmental laws to hunting regulations.

“People move around a lot and tracking people down can be costly,” de Jong said. But ICBC has proven to be an effective debt collector, “because it’s a point at which people have fairly regular contact, those that drive,” he said.

“Having a tool available to more efficiently and cost-effectively collect on some of those debts — we won’t collect on all of them, but collect on some of them — is obviously of interest to us.”

In most cases, an account will have to be in arrears for a year or more before ICBC starts blocking licence renewals, the government said. Court fines will have to be overdue for more than 120 days. The government said it will not take action against someone who is making regular payments or can prove a financial hardship.

It will issue warning letters before refusing to renew someone’s licence, and debtors will have a chance to prove financial hardship or enter into a repayment plan with the Ministry of Finance.

The legislation will not block the issuing of other forms of photo identification, such as the B.C. Services Card. There are no plans, at this point, to use ICBC to collect unpaid parking tickets for municipalities. But de Jong said there “could be an opportunity” for that in the future.

The changes were introduced as part of an omnibus bill that also amends the Carbon Tax Act, Motor Fuel Tax Act, Provincial Sales Tax Act, Tobacco Tax Act and the Provincial Sales Tax Act.

lkines@timescolonist.com