Calls for elimination of ‘predatory’ court fees come as budget talks begin
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Jamaica resident Peggy Herrera advocates for the passage of the End Predatory Court Fees Act in Albany on Feb. 5, 2024. Photo via Center for Community Alternatives
By Jacob Kaye
Around five years ago, Jamaica resident Peggy Herrera’s son was having an anxiety attack.
Herrera, whose son, Justin, struggled with mental health issues, called 911 in the hopes that paramedics would come to their Queens home and calm her son down. The paramedics came, but so did the police, who insisted on taking Justin into custody.
Herrera protested, was allegedly tackled to the ground by officers and arrested.
While the arrest was traumatizing, Herrera says the saga that unfolded afterwards was just as damaging.
The arrest, as well as several other run-ins with the law her son had, put Herrera $12,000 in debt, all of which she accrued as a result of what advocates and some lawmakers call “predatory” court fines and fees. Despite the fact that the charges against her were eventually dropped, she was still on the hook for the payments to the courts brought on by the arrest.
In all, it took Herrera four years to pay off the court costs. During that time, she said she had trouble meeting her family's other financial obligations. She went into credit card debt, she took on extra jobs, worked overtime, went to food pantries and sought donations from members of her church.
“Every dollar we spend on these feeds is one less dollar we have to support our families,” Herrera said.
Herrera was one of several dozen advocates to join a handful of lawmakers in Albany on Monday to again call on the legislature and the governor to include a bill known as the End Predatory Court Fees Act in the state’s budget, which is currently under negotiation and is due on April 1.
The bill, which was first introduced in Albany in 2019, would eliminate mandatory surcharges in the state’s courts – in New York, a person convicted of a felony is charged a mandatory surcharge of $300, those convicted of misdemeanors pay $175 and those who commit violations are required to pay $95.
Mandatory surcharges were first implemented in the Empire State in the 1980s as a way to raise state revenue. Over the past several decades, the price of the surcharge has been raised by lawmakers.
“This is a totally backwards, regressive and unsustainable way to fund a court system,” said State Senator Julia Salazar, who represents a portion of North Brooklyn and Queens and who acts as the bill’s lead sponsor in the Senate.
The bill would also eliminate probation fees and ban the practice of incarcerating those who haven’t paid court fines and fees. It would also ban the state from freezing incarcerated New Yorkers’ commissary accounts if their fees are unpaid.
“We still essentially have debtors' prisons in New York State because that is effectively what it is when someone is incarcerated or criminalized because they cannot afford to pay what they owe,” Salazar said at the rally on Monday. “That is outrageous.”
“We have the opportunity to end that practice entirely in New York by passing the End Predatory Court Fees Act,” the lawmaker added.
The bill would create several new systems to replace the current structure of fine and fee systems in the courts.
Under the bill, the state’s courts would adopt a new fine system that would take into account a person’s ability to pay.
The bill would also establish a procedure by which defendants could apply for resentencing if they are unable to pay a fee or fine imposed by the court.
The bill would also make any existing warrants or sentences of incarceration imposed solely due to the alleged failure of a defendant to pay a fine or fee null and void.
Proponents of the bill argue that the financial burden of court fees and fines disproportionately impacts communities of color, low-income communities and women.
Despite broad support from criminal justice advocates, public defender groups and progressive lawmakers, the bill has stalled in the legislature.
The legislation has never made it out of committee in either the Assembly or the State Senate.
By nature, if passed into law, the bill will have a financial impact on the state, which would no longer be allowed to collect mandatory surcharges. Salazar on Monday called the financial impact “nominal.”
Additionally, the bill’s proponents argue that, in the long run, the bill would help save the state money by not requiring financial efforts to track down unpaid fines and fees.
“These losses are likely to be more than made up by reduced costs as individuals will no longer be incarcerated for failure to pay fees or surcharges, the significant administrative and financial burden stemming from processing civil judgments, license suspensions, and other collateral impacts of fees and surcharges will be eliminated,” the bill’s text reads. “And, more individuals will have an open path towards meaningful employment, which, in turn, brings economic benefits to the state.”
Because of its financial impact, Salazar urged Governor Kathy Hochul to include the measure in the state’s budget.
Hochul has expressed support for similar legislation in the past, passing a bill eliminating parole supervision fees into law last year.
The latest iteration of the End Predatory Court Fees Act is co-sponsored by Queens Senators Michael Gianaris, Jessica Ramos, Kristen Gonzalez, Toby Ann Stavisky and Leroy Comrie. Queens Assemblymembers Zohran Mamdani, Catalina Cruz, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Jeff Aubrey, Vivian Cook, Andrew Hevesi, Steven Raga, Khaleel Anderson and Juan Ardila co-sponsor the bill in Albany’s lower house.
