Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: Discontinuing Collection of Outstanding Juvenile Detention Fees

Although the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors imposed a moratorium on the collection of juvenile detention fees in 2009, the county continued to collect payments on existing debt from fees assessed before February 16, 2009. California Senate Bill 190 ended the assessment of juvenile fees statewide on January 1, 2018, but it did not end the collection of fees that were assessed before 2018.

This legislation discharges all outstanding debt owed by families on behalf of justice-involved youth and mandates that the county inform all affected parents and guardians that they should cease payment as soon as possible. The total amount of debt discharged was over $89 million.

You can read the full text of the legislation here. 

Key Provisions

• Collections for debt related to pre-2009 juvenile fees shall end immediately.
• Outstanding debt for 52,000 accounts shall be discarded, “taking all… legal action as needed.”
• The county must develop a notification protocol for parents/guardians to ensure that they stop paying their fees.