For many years traffic court has been an unfair, high fee repercussions, civil assessments , suspended licenses and absolutely no way to get the fine on the ticket lowered even by one cent. Department of Revenue couldn’t change the amount, the courts declared they no longer had jurisdiction to modify the fine owed and the state of California through up their hands and said the hands were tied. The tickets owed in California would shut down a person’s driver’s license even if they lived in another state.
As DMV became a uniform data base all states picked up on other states ticket problems and when the person went to renew or get a driver’s license they were blocked and told: Go to California and clear up the fines owed. Finally the state of California Office of the Governor took notice and said that such practices from traffic court outward came down especially hard on low income drivers, the poor and certain minority groups. In the fall of this year the Governor signed an amnesty bill titled an amnesty bill for traffic courts through-out California. For the next eighteen (18) months tickets issued from 2013 backwards are eligible to have the fine put back on calendar and re-calculated hooray!
Civil assessments that zoomed to $300 for missed court dates dropped down to $50. Penalty and assessments were often times cut in half or lower. Jurisdiction suddenly came back to life within the walls of traffic courts statewide. A ticket’s age is no longer a factor so long as it was before 2013 period. No questions asked about the ticket’s history and payment plans are now an option many times (depending on the circumstance of the ticket) and licenses can be reinstated rather simply and quickly once the driver has followed the requirements of the court and the bill passed. So tweet your friends, spread the word, fill up the phone lines and stand in line, because it could mean the start of getting back on the road nationwide as a lawful license caring driver who know longer has to take the bus, carpool, take the train or walk to get to their next destination. Get into the amnesty program fellow driver’s today!!
