Driven by Debt: The Failure of the OmniBase Program
The OmniBase Failure to Appear Program places holds on license renewals (making it an offense to drive) when the license holder fails to pay fines and fees or fails to …
Traffic Fines and Fees
D.C. parking, traffic tickets snowball into financial hardships
The Washington Post analyzed patterns of moving violations from red light cameras, parking tickets and police stops between 2016 and 2021 in the District of Columbia. The article highlights findings …
Cycles of Debt: Research Indicates That Driver’s License Suspensions Over Unpaid Fines Targets Black Drivers
In the first-ever study of failure-to-pay suspensions in the United States, researchers Sian Mughan and Joanna Carroll examined a sample of over 2000 drivers who received traffic tickets in Marion …
Colorado House Bill 21-1314
Colorado passed a bill repealing the authority of the Department of Revenue to cancel, renew or reinstate a driver’s license for failure to pay an outstanding monetary judgement. The bill also prohibits …
Delaware HB 244: An act to amend the code relating to fines, fees, costs, assessments, and restitution
The Delaware legislature introduced a bill to eliminate a number of fines and fees including fines and costs in juvenile delinquency proceedings, the public defender fee, and the probation supervision …
NV SB219
The Nevada legislature passed legislation to end the practice of suspending an individual’s driver’s license, or prohibiting an individual from applying for a driver’s license, due to a delinquent fine, …
Nevada AB 116
The Nevada Assembly approved legislation to decriminalize minor traffic violations and end the practice of issuing warrants when an individual can’t afford to pay the fines and fees imposed. You …
More Harm than Good: Building a more Just Fine and Fee System in California
Fines and fees push many low-income, Black, and Latinx California families into debt, cutting into their ability to meet basic needs. Researchers estimate that there is at least $10 billion …
The High Price of Using Justice Fines and Fees to Fund Government in Washington State
Fines and fees can cause severe and destabilizing harm for people required to pay them. Researchers from the Vera Institute of Justice collected and analyzed budget data from state, county, city and …
Traffic Without the Police
Traffic enforcement and policing have become intertwined as a gateway for funneling overpoliced and marginalized communities into the criminal justice system. This article explores a new legal framework that decouples …