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Showing posts from December, 2010

Is this really what we need?

On December 8th, a committee of the Oregon State Legislature will hold a public hearing on a new legislative concept* that would make significant changes in the fees and legal procedures enacted when you receive a traffic citation (or any other type of citation). Legislative Concept 364 (LC 364, PDF here ) has been in the works for over a year in the Joint Interim Committee on State Justice System Revenues . LC 364 would make changes to the fine structures used by courts and police officers, it would eliminate the guilty plea option from traffic citations, it would significantly increase maximum fine amounts, and more. Currently, the fine amount written by police officers on a citation is significantly more than the minimum fine. When people show up to protest a citation, that amount is lowered, but remains higher than the minimum. For example, a Class C violation has a $143 minimum fine, police officers write $190 on your ticket and the actual fine that is imposed (on average) is $179