Bill on CA Governor’s desk would end jail for minor infractions Both houses of the California state legislature recently approved a bill to ban the practice of issuing bench warrants for minor infractions that are not jailable offenses. Comments from Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D – Long Beach), a co-author on the bill; and from Jhumpa Bhattacharya, (JOOM-puh BUH-tah-CHAR-ee-uh) co-founder and co-president of the Maven Collaborative, a nonprofit that works for economic justice.

A California bill aiming to stop the practice of jailing people for minor infractions is now on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

Assembly Bill 2122 would prevent courts from issuing bench warrants for a failure to appear in court or pay a fine for a low-level traffic or civil offense.

Asm. Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, a co-author of the bill, said courts should rely on bank levies, wage garnishments or tax intercepts instead.

“It doesn’t make financial sense because arrests often cost taxpayers more to arrest somebody than what they actually owe. Taking someone into custody takes limited law enforcement personnel and resources away from the more serious cases,” Lowenthal explained.

The California Sheriff’s Department Association opposes the bill, arguing it would remove an important tool which encourages people to appear in court or pay their fines. The measure would apply to driving offenses such as a broken taillight or an illegal U-turn, or to civil infractions like sleeping on a public bench or fishing without a license.

Jhumpa Bhattacharya, cofounder and copresident of the economic justice nonprofit Maven Collaborative, which cosponsored the bill, said jailing people over minor offenses can unfairly cause them to lose their job and be unable to pay rent, destabilizing communities. Bhattacharya added poverty and over-policing in neighborhoods of color mean it is an issue of racial and economic justice.

“In San Francisco County, even though Black people make up just about 6% of the population, about 50% of those who are arrested for failure to appear were Black. In Los Angeles County, 90% of the thousands of folks that were arrested were Black or Latinx,” Bhattacharya pointed out.

The bill’s supporters said many people who fail to show up for a court date have trouble getting time off of work, have transportation issues or are afraid to encounter ICE agents. A dozen counties in California already forgo the use of bench warrants for minor infractions.

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