The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will consider giving up $1.8 million in annual revenue from court fees charged to individuals going through the criminal justice system.
There are currently fees imposed for getting fingerprinted, booked into jail, tested for drugs or alcohol or represented by a lawyer from the Office of the Public Defender, among other things.
The board directed their staff to review these fees back in February. While looking into the matter, officials found that not all defendants are equally able to pay the fees, and there are concerns that they may be applied disproportionately to defendants of color.
More than six months later, they’re set to review a proposal from the county’s public protection committee to put a temporary moratorium on the collection of fees under county control.
The meting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the board chambers at 651 Pine St., in Martinez. For more information, call David Twa, clerk of the board and county administrator, at (925) 335-1900.
How about victims and their compensation…
And what new tax will they come up with to recoup that $1.8 million? Why does every issue now have to include it is for the children, it is for the homeless, it is not fair to people of color and so on??
No F-ing kidding. How about don’t do the crime in the first place, idiots, no matter what color!
Let’s let taxpayers vote on this BS instead of the Board of Stupivisors making these horrible decisions for law-abiding citizens – of all colors. And by the way if you don’t take the time to vote then don’t complain.
If you do vote… get rid of the decision-makers who support this nonsense otherwise expect more of the same!
How about not getting arrested!?!
Cool so now those of us who don’t go to court can pay the $1.8 mil. Can’t tell you how happy that makes me.
Are crimes “disproportionately” committed by persons of color ? ? ? ?
An how many who show up in criminal court, are high school dropouts and/or are functionally illiterate?
Number of dropouts in CA in 2018 was 48,453.
How in this age, is that any where near acceptable.
An how many who did graduate did so with a learned skill set that would be of benefit to an employer ?
Now consider 363,406 CA high school students were suspended in 2018.
But fear not . . . state legislature, probably in next year or so, will make that embarrassment go away . . . is after all easier to make the reported number go away than it is to correct the problem.
https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr18/yr18rel76.asp#Table2
Considering the many decades liberals have been in charge of CA’s educational system you’d think they might have some clue of how to correct problems.
Too bad those in charge aren’t more concerned about correcting the accumulation of bad practices causing, their “disproportionately” issues.
Too bad corporations taking advantage of a property tax relief for ordinary people ripped so much money away from programs for poor kids and schools. Maybe we need to start leveling the playing field. I don’t agree with abolishing fines and fees but removing them if someone is found innocent and reducing them per ability to pay. If someone has a picture of themselves on Facebook smoking dope then maybe they can afford the fees.
Laws and rules mean nothing when there is no penalty. Too avoid criminal court fees, don’t be a criminal!
wow so Da wont prosecute illegals regardless of offense
no bail no fees ….they are racist
so all designed to have the middle class exodus
yet want everything free for illegals and criminals
so who pays for these court employees if fees and such are not collected
that’s right the middle class worker …in construction and retail and delivery
but wait you are making it unsafe for their families and they are leaving
so again who will pay for your communist socialism ?
democrat care to answer ….its like being a child and asking for money to get an ice-cream ……but then your kid comes to you and says all of their friends want ice-cream ….and you have to pay for them ….
let the exodus begin …..
so what happens to a communistic socialistic self absorbed society
oh that’s right just ask venzuela …..wow
when will history stop repeating or rather when will the meek stop messing it up for everyone else just to prove they are self-absorbed and hypocrites
as they say everyone …but only mean those who obey and belong …classic bullying and yet they say they are against
seems democrats only denounce the things they do best
racism yep
elitists yep
legalized crime yep
corruption yep
no housing yep
no straws…yep yet a democrat company still gets to use them hmmm
high crime yep
who pays for lazy utopia when the workforce is driven out ?
Yeah, let’s continue to coddle criminals (and most likely at the law abiding citizen expense). Why not instead have a sliding scale for criminal court fees depending on ability to pay on a case by case basis or a accept a payment plan?
-OR-
Avoid all of this and pay noting by simply not breaking the law!
All I care about are the victims. If you don’t want to pay the fees, quit committing crimes. It really is that simple.
I, for one, can’t afford the things that people in Atherton can afford. That’s the way the old ball bounces…
Shouldn’t we also pay our criminals a minimum wage of a least $15/hr for the “time” that we inconvenience them while we run them through our useless legal system? We could cover that by charging the victims for the audacity of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mugging victims are the worst! Charge them double!
with king newscum at the throne
you can expect more flogging of the middle class as the 1% politicians
reap havoc all over the state blaming trump for their woes as they slap on more taxes for their created problems and the voters lack of simple common sense of legalizing crime and allowing the roasting of the constitution by grifters in the political system
cant wait for the free loaders to realize in their communist socialist regime
they have to work or get no benefits
because when the teeter tilts in favor of ludicrous social antics
it will the free loaders and the democrat voters wonder …uhh what happened and asking texas for help lol
What happened to “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”? What are we teaching our kids?
What happened to “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time”? What are we teaching our kids?
“Don’t do the spree if you can’t pay the fee……..No”
The fees by design should destroy them financially and force them to work to for a living. Heck give them a job constructing the new slow speed rail system from Merced to Bakersfield.
As usual the California government(at all levels) does all it can to accommodate, assist, support and show love to criminals; at the expense of honest responsible tax paying law abiding citizens.
working the fees off teaches people a better lesson.
Community service hours if you cannot afford fees.
Remember to vote out all Democrats and liberals that push this crap. Almost all penalties of committing a crime has been removed. We as honest citizens have no rights to protect ourselves or are property with out being penalized if we caught or god forbid had to shoot some one in our house as they try and rob it and us. We need to stop this insanity
Under consideration based on “…a proposal from the county’s public protection committee….” Who is the “Public Protection Committee?”
Committee Members:
Supervisor John Gioia, District I, Chair
Supervisor Federal D. Glover, District V, Vice Chair.
There is far more than IRONY at play here. “PUBLIC” PROTECTION COMMITTEE?
So, they’ve made it official. You have to pay “protection” money in the County and they’re the ones who’ll collect it?
Are we talking about fees payable BEFORE or AFTER conviction? There should be no fees charged to people not convicted just because they were arrested.
There should be treadmills and stationary bikes that are connected to the power grid … criminals and people who violate our laws should repay their debt to society by generating power for the people who obey the law.
MCGA!!!
Wow, there’s a nightmarish scene from a futuristic dystopian society. All dark, in black and white, hot and smokey with sweaty people pedaling, pedaling, pedaling …
The politicians continue to provide a two tier system. Some of us pay, some don’t. Funny how the criminals seem to pay the least these days. What was that old saying? Crime doesn’t pay…. Maybe they were right…. on top of that, our venerable Governor Gavin Newsom released from prison about a dozen convicted murderers from prison today, claiming it wasn’t fair to some of them because they were young when their crimes were committed…. baffling to think how many people voted for that clown….
I’m your huckleberry………………108RS
I always thought that the purpose of the fees and fines should be to modify human behavior, rather than to balance the budgets of the respective governmental agencies. In this respect both the current system, and the proposed modification – to refund all fees indiscriminately – are nonsensical.
Be it a speeding ticket or an arrest for drunk and disorderly, some people get caught once, learn their lesson and never do the same thing again. They should be rewarded by getting their fees back. May be gradually – say, if a person stays in the clear for a year, they get back a third of their fees. After another year they get the rest.
On the other hand, there is no reason why repeat offenders should get their fees refunded. Regardless of their race, color, and other “equity” considerations.
“The meting is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the board chambers at 651 Pine St., in Martinez.” What day?
“The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday…”
Stop treating the illegals and generational welfare families like kings and queens, Newscum and the rest of you liberals. The citizenry that follow the laws and pay their inflated taxes are sick of this.
You do the crime you pay the fine and do the time. This is total BS. I am personally sick and tired of cleaning up the SH_T that the liberals leave for the hard working people of the United States to take on. Other countries are laughing at us and sending us their useless people. Wake up people. No under it appears we have to defend ourselves against the left. Enough is enough. Stop voting in these fools. But then again so few of us use our common sense and can put down their electronic gadgets that seem to lead the younger and liberal generation by the nose. Politicians do not want any of us that can think on our own to vote they simply want the illegal folks to vote who are giving them a free ride.
yeah I get it they are just gonna out source the collection agencies to “other” entities