Community Service Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Fines and Fees Justice Center

Texas SB 1913: Relating to the administrative, civil, and criminal consequences, including fines, fees, and costs, imposed on persons arrested for, charged with, or convicted of certain criminal offenses.

This bill aims to improve the fairness of the Texas criminal justice system’s response to defendants’ inability to pay fines and fees in criminal cases, particularly in traffic and city ordinance violations.

San Francisco Fines & Fees Task Force: Initial Findings and Recommendations

In late 2016, San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors directed the Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector to create a Fines and Fees Task Force (staffed by the Treasurer’s Financial Justice Project) to study the impact of fines and fees on San Franciscans & propose relevant reforms. About six months later, the Task Force published this initial report in order to provide an overview of fines and fees in San Francisco as well as an array of reform recommendations.

$23,000 in traffic fines reduced to $9 for man as pilot program takes on New Orleans’ court system

In March 2017, New Orleans nonprofit Stand with Dignity sponsored a Warrant Clinic in New Orleans. Over 1,200 people (who owed an average of $8,000 in fines and fees) participated in the clinic.

Kentucky SB 120: An act relating to crimes and punishments and making an appropriation therefor.

This bill makes dozens of changes to Kentucky’s criminal justice statutes, and several of those changes constitute meaningful fines and fees reform.

Lawful Collection of Legal Financial Obligations: A Bench Card for Judges

This bench card, which can be modified for state and local jurisdictions, advises judges on how to sanction indigent defendants for nonpayment of fines and fees without resorting to incarceration, outlines procedural protections for defendants who are unable to pay, and outlines standards for determining indigence.

Oklahoma SB 340: Options for repayment of fines and costs

For individuals who are unable to pay their fines and fees, their total debt may be cited and entered into the district court judgement docket. A judge may also replace fines and fees with court-ordered community service (credited at a minimum rate of at least federal minimum wage), if community service doesn’t cause undue hardship.

Washington House Bill 1783 – An act relating to legal financial obligations.

Effective June 7, 2018, this bill makes several changes to the imposition and collection of fines and fees in Washington State.

Pay or Stay: The High Cost of Jailing Texans for Fines and Fees

This joint report by Texas Appleseed and the Texas Fair Defense Project evaluates how often fine-only offenses - offenses punishable only by a fine and no jail sentence – in fact subject Texans to jail time and suspensions of driver’s licenses or the inability to renew a license or register a vehicle because of their inability to pay.

Oregon SB 360: An Act Relating to Reentry

This Act directs Oregon counties to create community service programs that allow parolees to participate in lieu of paying certain types of debts such as court-appointed attorney fees.

Massachusetts Supreme Court Rule 3:10: Assignment of Counsel

This court rule establishes new procedures for Massachusetts courts to determine defendants’ ability to pay and for courts to assess fees for public counsel based on that determination.