09/24/2026
Governor Newsom has signed AB 2428, authored by Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez, ending many of the administrative fees California charges people after an arrest, prosecution, or conviction.
These fees were never about public safety. They are a form of racialized wealth extraction, funding counties, courts, and agencies by draining money from communities that can least afford to lose it.
Because Black and brown Californians are policed and prosecuted at higher rates, they are charged these fees at higher rates too. Additionally, roughly 80 percent of criminal defendants in California are indigent, so the costs often land on their families, most often women.
The debt follows people long after a case ends. It competes with rent and groceries and leads to wage garnishment, damaged credit, and seized tax refunds. It blocks access to jobs, housing, education, and public benefits, the foundations families need to build stability. Counties often spend nearly as much collecting these fees as they bring in, or more. It is extraction that doesn't even pay for itself.
AB 2428 repeals the authority to collect many of these fees. Beginning January 1, 2027, unpaid balances of most covered court-imposed costs become uncollectible and must be vacated. The law also ends fees for court-ordered community service, relieves incarcerated people of trial court filing fees and incarceration-related costs, and bars counties from billing people for temporary release before reentry.
Building on AB 1869 and AB 177, AB 2428 lifts debt people could never realistically repay. Western Center is a proud co-sponsor. We will keep fighting until court debt no longer stands between people and a stable return home.
