About Payment Plans for Indigent Persons

As of July 1, 2018 changes made to the California Vehicle Code pursuant to Assembly Bill No. 503 allow for the establishment of a payment plan for unpaid and/or delinquent parking fines and fees to persons able to prove they are indigent.

Right to Request an Indigency Determination

Persons seeking a determination of indigency must do so within a certain time period before a payment plan may begin, see below:

• Per CVC 40220, the application period expires after “60 calendar days from the issuance of a notice of parking violation, or 10 days after the administrative hearing determination, whichever is later”
• Application of indigence determination may be made by contacting the Citation Processing Center by phone at (800) 989-2058 or online at www.citationprocessingcenter.com

Documentation Required for Indigency Determination

Persons seeking a determination of indigency must be able to provide appropriate proof of indigency. Indigency may be demonstrated by submitting documentation pursuant to California Government Code Section 68632 and California Vehicle Code Section 40220. A summary of these codes as they refer to demonstration and determination of indigency is as follows:

A person may be considered indigent if any of the following conditions are met:

• The person can provide proof of income from a pay stub or another form of proof of earnings, such as a bank statement, that shows that their monthly income is 125 percent or less of the current poverty guidelines updated periodically in the Federal Register by the United States Department of Health and Human Services
• The person can provide proof of receipt of public benefits, through an electronic benefits transfer card or another card, under one or more of the following programs:

1. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and State Supplementary Payment (SSP)
2. California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act (CalWORKs)
3. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or the California Food Assistance Program
4. County Relief, General Relief (GR), or General Assistance (GA)
5. Cash Assistance Program for Aged, Blind, and Disabled Legal Immigrants (CAPI)
6. In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)
7. Medi-Cal

Payment Plan Criteria for Indigent Persons

Once the determination of indigency is made the following criteria shall be used to set up payment plans for indigent persons whose unpaid parking fines and fees total $300.00 or less:

• The fee to initiate a payment plan for indigent persons will be $5.00
  • The monthly payment amount shall not exceed $25.00
  • Payment plans are structured such that all unpaid fines will be paid off within 18 months
• If any monthly payment is not received by the due date the payment plan will be canceled
  • There is a one-time re-enrollment opportunity for a late/missing payment
  • The re-enrollment request must be made within 45 days
  • The fee to re-enroll in a payment plan is $5.00
• If a payment plan is cancelled due to late/missing payments, and no re-enrollment request is made in the allotted time, the full amount of outstanding parking fines will be reinstated

More Information

For more information about the application of indigence determination process contact the Citation Processing Center by phone at (800) 989-2058 or online at www.citationprocessingcenter.com