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Dear Partners in Financial Justice,

In 2021, our team at The San Francisco Financial Justice Project has continued to build the movement for Financial Justice and ensure that fines and fees do not adversely impact low-income people and communities of color.

We are deeply grateful for all of our partners. With your help we have expanded debt-relief programs, launched innovative pilot programs, and brought Financial Justice statewide and nationwide. Here’s a snapshot of what we accomplished together in 2021:

1. Created relief from parking and fare evasion tickets for people experiencing homelessness in partnership with SFMTA, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, and community partners.

People experiencing homelessness can now dismiss their parking and fare evasion tickets when they receive help from a Coordinated Entry Access Point. This builds on existing tow and boot fine waivers for people experiencing homelessness that we helped create in 2020.

2. Expanded San Francisco Museums for All to be permanent and year-round.

This program allows San Franciscans with Medi-Cal or EBT cards to receive four free tickets to participating museums and cultural institutions. Check out the video we created with BAYCAT here and read more about the program here.

3. Launched the Commissary Allowance Pilot Program, a $10 monthly allowance for indigent people incarcerated in San Francisco Jails to purchase food and hygiene items from the commissary/jail store, in partnership with the SF Jail Justice Coalition and the SF Sheriff's Office.

4. Launched the Community First Temporary Pilot Program with the SF Public Utilities Commission. The pilot provides up to 90% off water and wastewater bills and offers debt forgiveness for eligible customers with low incomes.

5. Partnered with Mayor London Breed to eliminate and reduce municipal fees that have an adverse impact on people with low incomes and communities of color, including the Street Artist License Fee, several Medical Examiner fees, and fees for City ID cards.

6. Co-sponsored and passed AB 1452, authorizing the “Be The Jury” Pilot Program, a first-of-its-kind pilot program in San Francisco Superior Court to compensate low-income jurors $100 a day for jury service. We anticipate launching the program with our justice system partners in early 2022.

7. In partnership with PolicyLink and the Fines & Fees Justice Center, guided the inaugural cohort of Cities & Counties for Fine and Fee Justice as they advanced fine and fee reforms in their hometowns.

The first cohort of 10 jurisdictions made tangible reforms to fines and fees like ending debt-based driver’s license suspensions and reducing the burden of jail phone call fees.

We look forward to hosting a Fine and Fee Bootcamp on March 3-4, 2022, and launching the second cohort in 2022. To learn more about and apply to the Fine and Fee Bootcamp click here.

8. Successfully advocated for the removal of government-owed child support debt for certain families, specifically individuals who are veterans, CAPI recipients, and SSI recipients, in partnership with the Truth and Justice in Child Support Coalition.

9. Successfully advocated to the California Public Utilities Commission to lower the cost of in-state phone calls from all carceral facilities in California to $0.07/minute in partnership with community advocates. This is the lowest statewide cap in the country and a 77% discount from the previous statewide average rate of $0.31/minute. Read more here.

10. In partnership with the Debt Free Justice California Coalition, co-sponsored and passed AB 177, which eliminates 17 criminal administrative fees and discharges $534M in debt from these fees. This builds on previous first-in-the-nation work to eliminate criminal administrative fees at the state and local levels. We will continue to advocate for the abolition of all criminal administrative fees, including the civil assessment, next year.

BONUS: Treasurer José Cisneros and Anne Stuhldreher co-authored a chapter on our work to assess and reform fines and fees in San Francisco in The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program’s new book, “The Future of Wealth”. Results for America published a case study on The Financial Justice Project’s work to reduce the burden of fines and fees on San Francisco’s low-income communities and communities of color.

We are thankful to the community organizations, and government agencies that we’ve partnered with to assess and reform fines and fees this year. And we look forward to continuing to advance Financial Justice with you all at the local, state, and national levels in 2022.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season!

Yours in Financial Justice,

Anne, Michelle, and Shawn

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