This illegal experiment in disproportionate racial impact known as ‘AB-645 Vehicles: Speed Safety System Pilot Program” passed the California State Assembly 62-9 and the Senate by 29-6 (the ‘no’ votes were nearly all from Republicans) before being signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom. And the systemically racist program is now being rolled out in LA, San Francisco, and other areas before the two-tier fine system can be implemented statewide.
Contrary to its name, AB-645 doesn’t crack down on speeding, instead it actually gives speeders a pass as long as they meet an economic test which will lead to more speeding.
And, like many DEI programs trying to bypass Supreme Court rulings outlawing equity-based racial discrimination, it’s using income tests to disguise its underlying systemic racism, but the racial bias is written right into the text of the bill which falsely claims that “traditional enforcement methods have had a well-documented disparate impact on communities of color, and implicit or explicit racial bias”, mandates that its governing body will work with “racial equity” groups and orders a “racial and economic equity impact analysis” of the impact of fines on minorities.
Speeding enforcement is a matter of math and the least racially biased form of enforcement there is. Two men going 25 miles above the speed limit should receive identical fines.
California’s Democrat majority has now created actual systemically racist enforcement.
Here’s how it works.
AB-645 requires LA, San Francisco and other areas to slash fines and penalties by 80% for “indigent” individuals and by 50% for low-income individuals “up to 250 percent above the federal poverty level.” According to the California Health Care Foundation, only 21% of low-income individuals are white, 60% are Latino and 7% are black.
Using California’s MediCal estimates and average household numbers, members of the average black household would be eligible for a 50% reduction, many Latino households would, but few white and Asian households would qualify for this 50% ‘reduction’ on their tickets and fines.
Those in the ‘indigent’ category, meaning their income is at 125% of the federal poverty level, receive not only an 80% discount, but the opportunity to substitute community service insead.
In San Francisco, one of the locations where this experiment is being rolled out, only 2.6% of white households would qualify for this 80% discount, but 17% of black households and 9.5% of Latinos would. In Los Angeles, only 6.9% of white households, but 14.7% of black households and 13.1% of Latino households would be eligible. (Only 7.9% of Asian households would.)
This is actual systemic racism and disproportionate impact on action.
