California is owed tens of millions of dollars in unpaid court fines. But collecting those fines is a complicated process.
The state issues millions of tickets a year from parking violations to out-of-season hunting fines. But what happens when fines aren't paid? It's a complicated answer.
There is no centralized state collection agency. Individual counties, courts, and collection agencies are all involved in fine payments. The Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) has spent the last two years researching state debt collection. The LAO says the best way for California to reclaim the billions of fines is to consolidate collection to the state courts. Once there is a centralized collection system, staff will have more time to find new easier ways for people to pay off fines.
"It's actually cheaper, less expensive to collect it when it's not delinquent, LAO analyst Anita Lee said. "Also, people are generally happier when you're collecting as non-delinquent and they're not facing different penalties like holds on their driver's licenses or additional fines and fees."
As for the current collection process?
"Right now, it's kinda split between the counties, the courts and whatever vendors they choose to use," Lee said. "So we would recommend consolidating it ... Wee actually think that the courts are the best entity because there is judicial counsel that conducts oversight over all of the 58 trial courts. and on top of that,t they're in the best position to interact with the debtors. So people will go to court to say I can't afford to pay. Please make an adjustment. Things like that they're going to court already."
Some California courts already have separate fine payment windows, allow fines to be paid in cash, or pay fines with installments. Lee said many Californians are also unaware that they can ask judges for different ways to reduce their fine payments, including community service.
No comments:
Post a Comment