Fight California bill proposal to stop you from fighting tickets

[fusion]

This may not be about guns but i'm sure we all drive!

A new bill AB2571 is running through the california assembly aimed at destroying your ability to fight your ticket in court. Only 1% of tickets issues are taken to court and the court system and police are crying that they have to spend too much time in court. Here's an exerpt of the bill.

This non-controversial bill requires Judicial Council to study
ways to improve the efficiency of traffic court procedures.
According to the author's office, this study will explore ways
to decrease the number of traffic citations that are challenged
in court, thereby decreasing the amount of time police officers
have to spend in the court house instead of on the streets.

Here's what you do, go to http://192.234.213.69/amapsearch/framepage.asp

Put in your address and zip code to find your assembly member. Call your assembly member and have the operator leave a message with the assembly member.

Your message should be this.

I [state your full name and full address] completely disagree with the pending bill ab 2571. This bill will destroy my rights to my day in court to fight a ticket. Making sure this bill is quashed is very important to me, my family, and local friends in your district. I would like a written response from assembly member [ enter is/her name] on her views of this bill.

You can say something like what I wrote above. Please everyone, don't put it off, call your assembly member. I made my very first call to my representative today. Once this bill is passed, what's next, not being able to challenge certain misdemeanors (because the courts are too full....ouinnnn ouinnnnn), then what's next, you're not allowed to challenge felonies.

Post this message in as many car enthusiast blog site as possible. You've sat on your butt complaining when you get a ticket that it's not fair. Everyone here's probably got one. This is your way to stick it to the man! If you don't do this for yourself, do it for others. Once a law has passed, other than the courts striking it down, it is almost impossible to remove from the books.

[jerryg1776]

Due process in Kalifornia is dying a sloooow death. Especially if you are a law abiding, hard working, upstanding citizen.

[Librarian]

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


SECTION 1. Section 68551 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
68551. (a) The Judicial Council may conduct institutes and
seminars from time to time, either regionally or on a statewide
basis, for the purpose of orienting judges to new judicial
assignments, keeping them informed concerning new developments in the
law and promoting uniformity in judicial procedure. These institutes
and seminars include, but are not limited to, consideration of
juvenile court proceedings, sentencing practices in criminal cases,
and the handling of traffic cases. Actual and necessary expenses
incurred by judges at an institute or seminar shall be a charge
against the county to the extent that funds are available therefor.
(b) The Judicial Council, the Department of the
California Highway Patrol , and local law
enforcement agencies in cooperation with each other , and under
the direction of the Judicial Council, shall study methods and
draft proposals to improve the procedure for handling traffic cases,
so that those proceedings are processed in a manner that reduces the
amount of time law enforcement officers spend at those proceedings.
Notwithstanding Section 7550.5, the findings and proposals resulting
from the study shall be reported to the Legislature on or before
January 1, 2008.
SEC. 2. If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this
act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local
agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant
to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of
the Government Code.

Someone want to point out the part of the quoted text that means the bill is "aimed at destroying your ability to fight your ticket in court. " ? I don't see it. Maybe I missed it.

[chris]

Due process in Kalifornia is dying a sloooow death. Especially if you are a law abiding, hard working, upstanding citizen.

second that.

i have always disagreed with the header on a bill "THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:" half the crap that comes from sacramento i don't agree with. that is another story.

[socalguns]

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_bill_20060223_introduced.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_bill_20060406_amended_asm.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_bill_20060502_amended_asm.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_bill_20060621_history.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_bill_20060626_status.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_cfa_20060616_154335_sen_comm.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_cfa_20060527_130352_asm_floor.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_cfa_20060516_164334_asm_comm.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_cfa_20060421_174511_asm_comm.html

http://leginfo.ca.gov/pub/bill/asm/ab_2551-2600/ab_2571_cfa_20060616_154335_sen_comm.html

Purpose . According to the author, by studying methods for
handling traffic cases, this bill aims to reduce the number of
hours that law enforcement officials spend in court so that
they can spend more time "fighting crime on the street."

The author describes a common scenario whereby someone who
justly receives a traffic ticket nonetheless pleads "not
guilty" and has their assigned to be heard in traffic court.
The officer who issued the citation is required to appear in
court to testify about the incident. If the officer is unable
to appear in court, the judge is forced to dismiss the case.
Under this system, many people who justly receive tickets
challenge the tickets in traffic court with the hope that the
officer will be unable to appear. If the officer does appear,
the violator will then change his or her plea to "guilty" so
that he or she may attend traffic violator school in lieu of
having the case adjudicated. Attending traffic violator
school in lieu of having a case adjudicated prevents a
violator from being found guilty and receiving violation
points on his or her driver's license. According to the
author, this scenario poses a "lose-lose-lose situation for
the court, the violator, and the police." The court expends
finite resources hearing a case that was unnecessary to hear;
the violator ends up in the same situation as if he or she had
pled guilty and paid the fine initially; and, law enforcement
officers waste time in court.

This bill endeavors to address this problem by directing the
Judicial Council, CHP, and local law enforcement agencies to
study collaboratively methods to improve the handling of
traffic cases in such a way that protects citizens'
constitutional rights to due process while also reducing the
amount of time law enforcement officers spend in court.

So the bill is a 1st step in ... but I can't see how it could ever accomplish anything other than wasting time/money