Loading...
2021-022 State Traffic Citation Programs and Warrant ClearanceDate: April 9, 2021 Report No. 2021-022 INFORMAL STAFF REPORT TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT: Potential Participation in State Traffic Citation Programs and Warrant Clearance BACKGROUND: During the Municipal Court Payments Audit, Staff found that the state of Texas offers two legislative tools that are intended to incentivize Municipal Court defendants to pay outstanding fines and fees. Based on Staff research, these tools are considered to be best practices to improve fine and fee collection and expedite warrant clearance. Each tool is described below: • The Scofflaw Program (Chapter 702 of the Texas Transportation Code) allows municipalities to contract with the Texas Department of Transportation to refuse to register or renew a motor vehicle’s registration if the vehicle owner has an outstanding warrant for violation of a traffic law. • The OmniBase Program (Chapter 706 of the Texas Transportation Code) allows municipalities to contract with the Texas Department of Transportation to deny defendants who attempt to renew their driver’s license if the individual has failed to pay fines and fees related to traffic violations. According to Municipal Court Administration Division Staff, the City was enrolled in the Scofflaw Program in the past; however, it stopped participating in 2017 due to operational costs and procedural reasons. On the other hand, the City has never enrolled in the OmniBase Program. According to Municipal Court staff, the City is not considering participation in either of these programs at this time. DISCUSSION: During fiscal year 2019-20 about 73 percent of the 15,200 citations issued were for traffic law violations. About 30 percent of the fines and fees assessed on these citations – amounting to about $767,000 – remain outstanding. In addition, 142 warrants have been issued for these citations. Warrants are typically issued if a defendant fails to appear in court or fails to pay adjudicated fines and fees. That being said, based on a review of traffic citation and warrant demographic information, implementation of these Programs may disproportionately impact certain segments of the City’s residents. In particular: • About 60 percent of issued warrants and 70 percent of cases with failure to appear status have defendants who are men, who make up about 49 percent of the City’s population; • Almost 35 percent of issued warrants have defendants who are young adults (people aged between 18 and 25 years), who make up about 22 percent of the City’s population; and Date: April 9, 2021 Report No. 2021-022 • Almost 40 percent of issued warrants and 35 percent of cases with failure to appear status have Black and African American defendants, who make up about 10 percent of the City’s population. Similarly, about 17 percent of citations are issued to Black and African American people. Historically, on average, the Denton Municipal Court issues 5,600 arrest warrants per year. The 146 warrants relied on to create the above race-based percentages were issued by the Court in the months before the COVID-19 Pandemic began. In addition, it should be noted that these differences are generally reflective of traffic citations and warrants issued in Texas and the United States as a whole. CONCLUSION: Implementing the Scofflaw and OmniBase Programs may help expedite the clearance of warrants and the collection of outstanding traffic-related fines and fees. That being said, implementation of these programs may disproportionately impact certain sectors of the City’s communities. If the City considers implementing these Programs in accordance with best practices, Staff should consider potential impacts to the community as well as operational costs and benefits. Furthermore, the Denton Municipal Court is currently developing and launching a few innovative, internal projects to reduce the need for warrants being issued by the court. A soft launch of one of the programs resolved around half of the cases where a defendant failed to appear and would have otherwise been issued a warrant. These projects are designed to assist all defendants with case resolution. According to Judge Atkinson, “Denton deserves a Municipal Court that is willing to innovate beyond current best practices to find solutions that work for all members of our community. Those innovations will not be focused primarily on punitive measures but rather on leveraging technology to accomplish the foundational goals of the court system.” STAFF CONTACT: Madison Rorschach, City Auditor Internal Audit Department (940) 349-7228 Madison.Rorschach@CityofDenton.com Tyler Atkinson, Municipal Court Judge Office of the Municipal Court Judge (940) 349-8140 Tyler.Atkinson@CityofDenton.com REQUESTOR: Staff Initiated PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENTS: Date: April 9, 2021 Report No. 2021-022 Internal Audit Department and Office of the Municipal Court Judge STAFF TIME TO COMPLETE REPORT: This information was gathered as part of the Municipal Court Payments Audit.