Sunday, December 04, 2016

Letting judges waive fines up front for indigent defendants makes sense

Grits was happy to see Rep. James White's HB 50, making a simple but needed change in Texas statutes surrounding indigency and payment of fines. Looking at the bill language, The East Texas Republican would allow JPs and municipal court judges to waive fines or substitute community service before defendants default  and have warrants issued, instead of afterward. Rep. Terry Canales, a Democrat, filed an identical bill styled HB 351.

This guest post from Ted Wood gives a good explication of the current state of the law surrounding these questions and the need for reform.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope this applies to Municipal Courts. It is crazy to see offenders with tickets that they are not allowed to have a payment plan or work community service.

Unknown said...

Why not report these to the JudicianConduct. Commission? Like Senator Whitmire. Phil Sanders