Tzedek DC co-led testimony by 32 racial justice, faith-based, legal aid, and anti-poverty groups delivered to the DC Council yesterday in support of a law that would reform the discriminatory and punitive practice under the “Clean Hands Law” of preventing District residents from getting or renewing their driver’s licenses.
In addition, DC community members directly impacted by this law provided critical first-hand accounts of the harms to their quality of life caused by being disqualified from a license.
If enacted, B24-0237, the Clean Hands Certification Equity Amendment Act of 2021, would address the urgent need for systemic reform to end DC’s current, wealth-based license scheme, under which any DC resident who has unpaid fines or fees totaling more than $100 is currently automatically disqualified from obtaining or renewing a driver’s license, professional or small business license, or other forms of DC license or permit—with no inquiry as to their ability to pay. As the coalition testimony notes:
[T]he current Clean Hands system has created a serious issue of racial inequity by tying the ability to drive lawfully to whether a DC resident has paid their fines and fees. The inequity of the impact of the Clean Hands Law lies in the disparate economic consequences—white DC households have an estimated 81 times more wealth than Black DC households, so Black DC residents are disproportionately punished for nonpayment. The associated inequity resulting from the Clean Hands Law is also evident in the criminal justice system, since many residents unable to renew their licenses continue to sometimes drive in order to accomplish critical life necessities. Based on review of MPD data from 2013-2020, Black adult DC residents are arrested for the offense of driving without a permit 19 times more frequently than White adult DC residents.
You can read the full coalition submission here.
The coalition members submitting the testimony include:
ACLU of the District of Columbia
Ayuda
Bread for the City
Building Bridges Across the River
Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB)
CARECEN
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington
Coalition for Motorist Rights
Color of Change
DC Affordable Law Firm
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
DC Justice Lab
DC KinCare Alliance
DC Volunteers Lawyers Project
Fines and Fees Justice Center
Howard University School of Law Human and Civil Rights Clinic
Institute for Justice
Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington
Jews United for Justice
Legal Aid Justice Center
Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia
Legal Counsel for the Elderly
Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC)
Peter Edelman (Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center)
Pro Bono Institute
Trial Lawyers Association of Washington, DC
Tzedek DC
United Planning Organization
University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Washington Interfaith Network (WIN)