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.”
“Dueñas has changed the landscape in a number of ways,” said Brandon Greene, an attorney who worked with the East Bay Community Law Center on the case. “I think California is on track to recognize that the way that we fund certain services — whether it’s at the state or county level — is on the cusp of re-envisioning.”
A 2016 study in California from the East Bay Community Law Center found that license suspensions for failing to pay fines or appear in court are “directly correlated with poverty indicators and with race,” with driver’s license suspension rates ranging as high as five times the state average in communities that are primarily Black or Latino.
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.
East Bay Community Law Center celebrates victory as Alameda County Courts vote to make changes to the current Ability to Pay Determination Process that will provide more people with access to reduce their burdensome traffic court fines and fees.
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.
