“A lot of (prison) programs actually train people how to do these jobs, how to have a career in this, without telling them they’ll be banned from getting the license,” said Jael Myrick, a Richmond city councilman and program coordinator of the Clean Slate Program at the East Bay Community Law Center, which is sponsoring the bills. “That’s the issue we’re trying to fix.”
The ACLU Foundations of California, with invaluable contributions from the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC), partners from the labor movement and others, today launched the Community Justice Platform.
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.
Phan worked with staff attorney Theresa Zhen for months before he was finally able to get his license back, just before the passage of AB 103. “None of these things happen in a vacuum,” Zhen said. “It takes a movement of lawyers, community groups, and people who are brave enough to tell their story.”
UpFront speaks with Theresa Zhen, Staff Attorney at the Clean Slate Practice of the East Bay Community Law Center and member of the Back on the Road California Coalition, which fights for traffic court reform. She is also a co-author of Ability to Pay Implementation in Traffic Court: A Toolkit for Advocates. Theresa tells us about ways to get your traffic tickets expunged.
“Our clients are routinely denied jobs and licenses based on non-conviction arrests,” said Sarah Crowley, Director of the Clean Slate Practice at the East Bay Community Law Center. “This bill’s expanded sealing remedy will help ensure that people are not penalized for criminal justice contacts that have no bearing on their ability or character.”
On March 1, 2017, East Bay Community Law Center filed an amicus brief in People v. Duenas on behalf of over twenty nonprofit and grassroots organizations in California. The brief opposes the imposition of court fines and fees when a defendant is unable to pay.
In April 2005, the East Bay Community Law Center (EBCLC) hosted a “Clean Slate Summit” at Laney College in Oakland. Organized by EBCLC leaders Tirien Steinbach ’99 and Margaret Richardson ’03, the event drew more than 900 people
East Bay Community Law Center Executive Director Tirien Steinbach says the new law, which passed in November, helps bridge a disconnect between old values and modern technology.
It’s well-known that private background checks frequently contain misinformation. At the East Bay Community Law Center in Berkeley, California, our Clean Slate Practice sees hundreds of clients each year who have a criminal record and are seeking employment. From a decade of experience, we know that private background checks produced by CRAs are riddled with an unacceptably high number of errors.
