Please send a support letter – On your letter head
Sample Support Letter – Senate Bill 882 (Hertzberg)
The Committee Only Accepts Letters by Fax – Please Send To: (916) 445-4688
Send Copy To: ; ;
Date ____Please Submit by March 8th
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
Senate Public Safety Committee
State Capitol, Room 5064
Sacramento,CA 95814
RE: Support for SB 882 (Hertzberg)
Dear Senator Hancock:
[Name of Your Organization] supports Senate Bill 882 (Hertzberg) to prevent minors from being charged with a penal code infraction for a transit fare evasion citation.
Transit fare evasion is the number one cause of juvenile citations in L.A. County, according to data from the L.A. County Probation Department. California law allows minors to have charges brought against them for a fare evasion ticket, which may result in court appearances, suspended driver’s licenses, and even time in juvenile detention.
As fare evasion is often committed by people who don’t have the few dollars requisite to ride public transportation, addressing fare evasion through the penal code essentially criminalizes youth for poverty.
SB 882 does not eliminate the ability of youth to be cited and fined for fare evasion. It simply ends the practice of punishing children for fare evasion in our penal code and in our youth detention and probation systems. By ending the criminalization of youth who ride transit without paying the fare, we can reduce the likelihood that they will enter the criminal justice system and reduce the expense of trying and detaining them.
For these reasons, [Name of Your Organization] supports SB 882 and respectfully requests your “Aye” vote.
Sincerely,
Your Name and Title
CC: Honorable Robert Hertzberg, California State Senate (Author)
Jessica Bartholow, Western Center on Law and Poverty (Co-Sponsor)
Michele Stillwell-Parvensky, Children’s Defense Fund (Co-Sponsor)
Kim McGill, Youth Justice Coalition (Co-Sponsor)