Tzedek DC’s work with coalition partners to reform DC’s Clean Hands law was recently featured in a Mother Jones article on how different state and local taxation policies punish low-income residents.

The piece discusses how DC’s Clean Hands law punishes residents with low incomes who owe more than $100 to the District by preventing them from obtaining occupational and business licenses.

“That's nearly one in five DC workers who must comply with this law or not be able to work in their chosen profession,” said A.J. Huber, a senior staff attorney at Tzedek DC. “That includes barbers, cosmetologists, nurses, social workers, plumbers, HVAC cleaners, food vendors, tattoo artists, and dozens of other, mostly blue-collar occupations.”

The article also highlights Tzedek DC’s role in reforming the Clean Hands law both in the past and in the present. Mother Jones mentions how Tzedek DC’s 2021 report and years of pushing for legislative change led to the elimination of the Clean Hands requirement for driver’s license renewals in 2022.

The article also mentions Tzedek DC’s recent 2023 Locked Out report on the need to eliminate occupational and business licenses from the Clean Hands requirement and the ongoing work by Tzedek DC and coalition partners to create changes to the Clean Hands law.

“I think a lot of people when they just hear about the issue abstractly think, ‘Oh, it's just a bunch of people who don't want to pay their bills,’” Huber said. “And that's really not what it is. It’s people who are in tough financial circumstances and whose circumstances are becoming even tougher because of this law.”