Earlier this week, on July 12, the DC Council unanimously passed a law that, once it takes effect in October 2023, will reform the discriminatory and punitive practice under the “Clean Hands Law” of preventing District residents from getting or renewing their driver’s licenses.
The Clean Hands Certification Equity Amendment Act of 2022 addresses 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 automatically disqualified from obtaining or renewing a driver’s license—with no inquiry as to their ability to pay.
As Tzedek DC and coalition partners testified in support of the reform:
[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.
“Along with our pro bono partners in this work at Venable LLP, we are honored to serve and support our clients like Evelyn Parham, Norris Harvey, and Salle Void, who, with fellow directly impacted D.C. residents, have shared their stories and perspectives with the Council and public to make this reform possible,” Tzedek DC’s President and Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman said. “We are deeply appreciative to the Council for this step towards justice, and especially the leadership on the issue over several years by Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie, Elissa Silverman, and Robert White. We are also grateful to the broad and strong group of nearly three dozen anti-poverty, anti-racism, civic, faith-based, and legal services groups that came together to help the Council say no to a two-tiered system of justice.”
“That said,” he added, “our clients are continuing to suffer harms on a daily basis from this law, and it is unfortunate that, due to input from executive branch agencies, the bill provides no legislative relief from the Clean Hands Law for more than 14 months from now. We will continue to zealously advocate for our clients’ rights to no longer be disqualified from applying to renew their driver’s license under the likely unconstitutional law that remains on the books for now.”
In its continued enforcement of the Clean Hands Law, the District of Columbia is an outlier. It is the only jurisdiction in the Eastern half of the United States and one of only three state-level jurisdictions in the nation with a law that disqualifies people from renewing their driver’s license as punishment for unpaid debt to the government.
The April 2021 Driving DC to Opportunity Report by Tzedek DC and pro bono partner Venable LLP details the policy and constitutional problems with the Clean Hands Law and is available here.
Recent stories on the bill’s passage include:
Coalition Members
ACLU of the District of Columbia
Ayuda
Blind Justice
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
Council for Court Excellence
DC Affordable Law Firm
DC Bar Pro Bono Center
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
Rising for Justice
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)
Whitman-Walker Health Legal Services