Based on years of clinic research finding that juvenile fees are harmful, unlawful, and costly, students drafted a bill discharging all remaining juvenile fees in California, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed in September. Senate Bill 1290 had broad bipartisan support and will end once and for all the collection of fees that extract wealth disproportionately from low-income Black and Latinx families. The bill was supported by a coalition of more than 60 groups across the state, building on the progress made by Senate Bill 190, which abolished new juvenile fees in 2018.

The clinic represented the Debt Free Justice California coalition, which recently persuaded the Legislature to pass Assembly Bill 1869, a budget bill signed by the governor that eliminates 23 regressive and racially discriminatory fees in the adult criminal system. The bill further requires counties to write off an estimated $15.9 billion in outstanding fees. This historic reform, the first of its kind nationwide, will reduce the harm caused by court-imposed debt and strengthen the economic and emotional well-being of low-income communities and communities of color.

In partnership with the East Bay Community Law Center and other members of the Debt Free Justice California coalition, the clinic played a key role last spring in persuading California Controller Betty Yee to stop intercepting tax refunds, garnishing wages, and levying bank accounts for state-imposed debt during the COVID-19 pandemic, making the state the first to take such a step. Coalition members acted quickly as they saw COVID-19 begin to devastate communities — particularly Black, Latinx, and low-income families — causing widespread layoffs and loss of healthcare and housing. Above: PAC Supervising Attorney Stephanie Campos-Bui ’14 (holding folders), clinic student Sarah Edwards M.P.P. ’20, and Asher Waite-Jones ’16, supervising attorney in EBCLC’s Clean Slate Clinic (back row, fourth and third from right), visit Sacramento to meet with the governor’s office about the bill.

The clinic helped mount a state and national response to COVID-19 and the racial justice reckoning with a special focus on abolishing fees and fines in the juvenile system. In April, we led the effort to organize more than 130 racial, economic, and criminal justice organizations across the country and political spectrum to call for a nationwide moratorium on juvenile fees and fines. Seven California counties ended collection of approximately $75 million in juvenile fees during the COVID-19 state of emergency, and other states have acted to reduce the harm of fines and fees.

Thanks to substantial gifts from Arnold Ventures and the Schusterman Family Foundation, the clinic has joined with longtime partners Juvenile Law Center and the National Center for Youth Law to launch a national Debt Free Justice campaign in early 2021. The funds have already allowed the clinic to expand its teaching staff, provide resources to local partners, and begin working to abolish juvenile fees in new states across the Deep South, Southwest, Northwest, and Mountain West. Clinic students are preparing for the campaign’s launch by developing a national strategy, cultivating relationships in new states, and providing support to campaign message testing, video creation, branding work, and a website. Above: Teaching Fellow Devan Shea M.P.P. ’19, then a PAC student, helps lead a breakout group at Berkeley Law during the 2018 convening of lawyers, researchers, and advocates from across the country to share best practices and strategies for juvenile fee reform.

We are delighted to announce the addition of four new teaching fellows to the clinic — Anavictoria Avila, Gus Tupper ’20, Rachel Wallace M.P.P. ’20, and Maiya Zwerling M.P.P ’20. Anavictoria joins PAC from the East Bay Community Law Center and is working on fee abolition efforts in three states in the Southwest. Gus is a clinic alumnus who graduated from the law school last spring and is supervising our fee repeal work in the Mountain West. Rachel is a recent alumna of Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and the clinic, where she is leading our juvenile fee abolition in three states in the Deep South. Maiya is also a Goldman School and clinic alumna and is supervising our Oregon fee repeal campaign and providing support to our national Debt Free Justice campaign.

It’s been a busy year in Berkeley Law’s clinical program. As we rise to meet the demands of the moment, our clinics are providing direct legal services, litigating cutting-edge issues, and conducting policy-based research. View our Annual Report to learn how clinical faculty, staff, and students across our 14 clinics are working to advance racial, economic, and social justice.