After careful consideration and consultation with impacted communities, advocates, and the
Debt Free Justice California (DFJC) coalition, Senator Holly J. Mitchell (D – LA) has made the
groundbreaking Families Over Fees Act a two-year bill.
Three years ago, during Brandon Greene’s first week working as a lawyer in a new clinic affiliated with the East Bay Community Law Center, he was handed a stack of cases to review. Each involved a client who was struggling to pay down the fines and fees that easily accumulate in California’s criminal justice system. It was his job to help. A handful of the cases were so old that he couldn’t find current contact information for the clients. He quickly realized that “some of those folks,” even if he did reach them, “could not get back on their feet at all” because of their debt. “The folks who were being affected were mostly indigent,” he said. “Everything costs money. Every program costs money. And a lot of folks can’t afford to pay these things.”
In 2017, Neumann helped represent First They Came for the Homeless, an organized encampment, against an eviction by BART. In 2018, he represented the RV-based Berkeley Friends on Wheels, and assisted in representing Oakland’s Housing and Dignity Village camp. He’s now working on a lawsuit against Caltrans, which, according to Neumann, has been “taking property and destroying it,” a violation, he argues, of the Fourth Amendment.
Three years ago, during Brandon Greene’s first week working as a lawyer in a new clinic affiliated with the East Bay Community Law Center, he was handed a stack of cases to review. Each involved a client who was struggling to pay down the fines and fees that easily accumulate in California’s criminal justice system. It was his job to help. A handful of the cases were so old that he couldn’t find current contact information for the clients. He quickly realized that “some of those folks,” even if he did reach them, “could not get back on their feet at all” because of their debt. “The folks who were being affected were mostly indigent,” he said. “Everything costs money. Every program costs money. And a lot of folks can’t afford to pay these things.”
Theresa Zhen, a staff attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, who is helping coordinate the advocacy effort for SB144, is already declaring victory. “The fact that even the opposition to the bill admits that it’s philosophically right is huge,” she said. “We’re finally having the real conversation: that courts have been built on the backs of the poor.”
By doing so, it would dramatically reduce the economic hardships caused by court-ordered debt and enhance the economic security of system-involved populations, their families and their communities. SB 144 will usher in an era of criminal justice policy that does not rely on stripping wealth from communities of color and low-income communities.
The East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) seeks a Housing Attorney/Clinical Supervisor to join its expanding Housing Practice to represent low-income tenants in unlawful detainer cases, advocate for tenants in a broad range of housing-related legal problems, and contribute to the creation of more just and humane housing policies for Alameda County tenants.
The Housing Practice of the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) is seeking two (2) full-time Intake/Program Coordinators to assist with client intake and screening and provide administrative support to staff attorneys.
EBCLC is currently seeking two Staff Attorneys/Clinical Supervisors for the program, one for reentry work associated with criminal records (“Reentry”) and one to address the impact of court-ordered fines and fees (“Decriminalization of Poverty”). Both positions will also train and supervise law student interns.
