If you have unpaid traffic tickets, the cash-hungry, budget-stretched California Superior Courts have a deal for you. Courts in all 58 counties are offering a 50 percent discount on some old unpaid traffic tickets.
The Adminstrative Office of the Courts has rolled out a limited-time Amnesty Program that it says may affect more than 6 million cases statewide. The program begins January 1, 2012 and ends June 30, 2012. According to an announcement made by the AOC yesterday, only traffic tickets that were due to be paid before January 1, 2009 are eligible. Parking tickets, driving under the influence and reckless driving cases are not eligible.
To qualify for the 50 percent discount, all of the followign conditions must be met:
You have an outstanding traffic case that was due to be paid in full before January 1, 2009. You either failed to appear in court of failed to pay in full. The last date you made a payment was on or before January 1, 2009. You don’t owe restitution to a victim on any case within the county where the traffic case was filed. You have no outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrants within the county where the traffic case was filed.
“People have an opportunity to clear their traffic tickets at a reduced cost, and the courts and the counties will get an injection of much-needed funds to help maintain critical services for the public,” said Ronald G. Overholt, Interim Administrative Director of the Courts.
So, if you duck beneath your dashboard when you encounter a policeman at a four-way stop, if you breath a sigh of relief every day you do not find a Denver Boot on your car, if Geico will no longer return your calls, then this is your chance. Strike while the iron is hot and the state courts are willing to deal!