FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Alameda County Superior Court Recalls More Than 83,000 DMV Driver License Holds, Paving the Way to Economic Security and Opportunity for Residents

Media Contact: Theresa Zhen, Brandon Greene
East Bay Community Law Center
tzhen@ebclc.org | bgreene@ebclc.org | 510-269-6635

November 28, 2017: Alameda County Superior Court has recalled over 83,000 DMV Failure to Pay (FTP) driver license holds to comply with newly enacted legislation Assembly Bill 103.

Along with our community partners on the Back on the Road California Coalition, EBCLC was instrumental in ensuring the passage of Assembly Bill 103, which ends the suspension of driver licenses for failure to pay a traffic fine. The East Bay Community Law Center has been a pioneer in legal services for people with driver’s license suspensions and court debt matters in Alameda County. We worked closely with the Alameda County Superior Court to design a robust and accessible Ability-to-Pay process, which has assisted low-income residents who cannot afford tickets get up to a 50% reduction on traffic debts owed and enroll in affordable payment plans. Our local advocacy culminated in a statewide Ability-to-Pay toolkit to equip California advocates in assisting people with traffic court debt. EBCLC has also played a leading role in achieving passage and implementation of parking ticket reform, which requires an assessment of a person’s ability to pay a parking ticket before the ticket can be a basis for the
DMV to suspend vehicle registration.

The court’s action to remove driver license holds is effective immediately. If a driver’s license was previously suspended for failure to pay traffic fines in Alameda County, it may be eligible for reinstatement now. We encourage all persons whose licenses were suspended after a failure to pay a traffic fine to visit a field office of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and check on the status of their driver license.

Starting January 10, 2018, EBCLC will host a walk-in Traffic and Court Debt clinic every Wednesday from 9:00-12:00 at 1950 University Ave, Berkeley CA 94704. Individuals with suspended driver’s licenses or other court debt matters may visit our clinic to get a consultation with a lawyer or a law student.

For Alameda County court’s press release on this action, see here.
For our op-eds and other writings, see OC Register and The Recorder.
For our Ability-to-Pay toolkit, see Toolkit.

To download this press release, click here.