Anne Stuhldreher
- Director of Financial Justice, The City and County of San Francisco
San Francisco
Director of Financial Justice, City and County of San Francisco. Fellow at Aspen Institute @AspenFSP. Alum of @CalEndow + @CAgovernment @NewAmerica Views my own
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Articles by Anne Stuhldreher
Commentary: Miss a traffic ticket deadline, add $300. Guess who this affects the most
Here’s something you might find surprising. Despite two years of pandemic-related anxieties, California is now so awash in money that politicians in Sacramento are debating how to spend tens of billions of surplus dollars.
Reform draconian late fees and fines for Bay Area bridge tolls | Commentary
Paul Briley knew a bill was coming. He’d crossed the Bay Bridge a dozen times for work and to make sure his grandmother was taking her medicine. With bridge tolls at $6 a pop, he had a good idea how much he’d racked up. But he’d recently moved from his home in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood, and the invoices weren’t reaching him. By the time they did, the scale of his debt had mutated into something truly shocking.
Get rid of all high pain/low gain court fees
The decade leading up to 2019 was horrific for Stephanie Jeffcoat. The 34-year-old lived in a tent on the streets of Anaheim, struggling with homelessness and addiction. She was charged with petty theft and was in and out of jail. Her life is now “the polar opposite.” She’s been sober for 30 months; she has a job at the nonprofit A New Way Of Life; and she is a full-time student, studying to get her associate’s degree, all while taking care of her daughter.
Column: Jaywalking laws don't keep us safe. California's should be repealed.
Richard Milton walked out of his medical appointment in Culver City into the noon sun. He needed to get back to the garage space he calls home. Black, 66, and a proud Army veteran, Milton has struggled with homelessness for years. “The garage is my sanctuary,” he said. “I have privacy there.” Milton looked both ways before crossing the street midblock. He was almost to the bus stop when a police car slowed, lights flashing.
California's Jaywalking Laws Need To Be Walked Back
Patch 1 hr ago CalMatters By Guest Commentary, CalMatters June 23, 2021 In summary Black people are the most frequent targets of laws that prioritize streets for cars rather than pedestrians. By Anne Stuhldreher, Special to CalMatters Anne Stuhldreher directs The Financial Justice Project in the treasurer's office of the city and county of San Francisco and is a fellow with the Aspen Institute's Financial Security Program, Overcharged2021@gmail.com.
Commentary: The traffic ticket from hell
Fatemeh was almost home. She was 19 and driving her 1994 Toyota Tercel down J Street in Sacramento, California. She didn't realize she'd already made a mistake that would affect her life for years to come. A police officer pulled her over for expired tags. And she had left her proof of insurance at home.
Why child support fails California’s kids in poverty
It’s a minor miracle that anyone can live in San Francisco on a $900 a month Social Security check, but Freddie Persons – a 75-year-old retiree – has survived times with his belt far tighter. Until recently, the government automatically garnished $300 from his monthly check. When he worked as a janitor for 36 years at Bayview Plaza mall, they took nearly twice that, he said. “Everything is hard when they take that money when you’re already poor to begin with,” Persons said.
Why child support fails California’s kids in poverty
It’s a minor miracle that anyone can live in San Francisco on a $900 a month Social Security check, but Freddie Persons – a 75-year-old retiree – has survived times with his belt far tighter. Until recently, the government automatically garnished $300 from his monthly check. When he worked as a janitor for 36 years at Bayview Plaza mall, they took nearly twice that, he said. “Everything is hard when they take that money when you’re already poor to begin with,” Persons said.
Op-Ed: Suspending driver's licenses for missed traffic court dates does more harm than good
© (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A police officer makes a traffic stop in Sacramento. A suspended driver's license is too extreme a penalty for failure to appear in court for a minor traffic violation. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Reforms to help California’s low-income workers hit hard by the coronavirus crisis don’t need to have hefty price tags. Gov. Gavin Newsom could help eliminate a formidable barrier to employment for hundreds of thousands of struggling Californians.
How We Rise: How social networks impact economic mobility in Racine, San Francisco, and Washington, DC
Twitter Join the conversation on Twitter using #HowWeRise Across the U.S., economic mobility is frequently linked with geography. Some places afford poor children the opportunity to do better economically than their parents did, and other places do not. Social networks, providing access to support, information, power, and resources, are a critical and often neglected element of opportunity structures.
Here’s a simple but revolutionary way to ease the burden of the coronavirus
Five years ago, Michael Yuen set in motion a simple but revolutionary reform that has transformed the lives of millions of low-income Californians while costing the state little in return. Yuen, CEO of the San Francisco Superior Court, persuaded the court to become the first in the nation to stop suspending driver’s licenses when people could not afford to pay traffic citations. The practice is known to have a spiral effect that often hurts low-income and marginalized communities the most.
A Simple But Revolutionary Way to Ease the Burden of Coronavirus
Suspending driver’s licenses over traffic debt was wrong before the pandemic. It’s even worse now. May 8, 2020 | 5:00 AM Five years ago, Michael Yuen set in motion a simple but revolutionary reform that has transformed the lives of millions of low-income Californians while costing the state little in return. Yuen, CEO of the San Francisco Superior Court, persuaded the court to become the first in the nation to stop suspending driver’s licenses when people could not afford to pay traffic citations.
Commentary: Why California libraries are ditching fines on overdue materials
Bill Colb has had just about every possible job in the San Francisco Public Library system. He has worked in customer service, managed branches and circulation, and is now the library’s digital strategist. Throughout these jobs, his most dreaded task remained the same: haggling with book borrowers over 10 cents a day fines for overdue materials.
Californians on Parole Deserve to Vote
Over six million Californians voted this past Tuesday. Fifty year-old Dauras Cyprian was not one of them. He wanted to vote, but like 40,000 other Californians on parole, state law prevented him. Cyprian is working to push California do what 17 other states already have—allow people who have been released from prison on parole to vote. Cyprian was in prison in California for 26 years. He was released on parole two years ago with supervision and guidelines.
San Francisco just got rid of unfair criminal justice fees. Other counties should do the same.
San Francisco resident Mary Vandigriff remembers when her life fell apart at age 19 and she began a 20-year struggle with addiction and cycling in and out of jail. Since Vandigriff last left jail in March 2017, she got a job at a San Francisco nonprofit, got clean and is repairing her relationships with her kids. But she still struggles, particularly with the thousands of dollars in administrative fees she owes from her time in the criminal justice system.
How Cash-Strapped Local Governments Target the Poor
Most progressives would like to think of government as an equalizer of opportunity, not as a driver of inequality. But there’s one respect in which state and local government policies in a growing number of jurisdictions are working to impoverish the people they should be helping: fines, fees, and tickets. Cash-strapped local governments increasingly rely on steep fines and financial penalties to fund their operations: 48 states have upped their fines and fees since 2010.
It’s self-defeating to bill parents for their children’s jail time | The Sacramento Bee
On the surface, it looks like West Sacramento native Michael Rizo has repaid his debt to society. After cycling in and out of foster care since he was a toddler, Rizo got caught up in gangs and robberies. Stints in juvenile hall followed, and at 17, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in the California Youth Authority for a fight with a rival gang member. Rizo got out last spring and he’s now 21.
A more accountable way to help homeless
For three years, Monica Hyatt lived in “the jungle,” an infamous 68-acre homeless encampment along Coyote Creek in San Jose. Garbage and river rats surrounded her small tent. She saw someone get killed. Her diabetes worsened. She drank eight to 10 bottles of malt liquor a day to “stay numb.”Eight months later, Hyatt lives in a modest one-bedroom apartment. She runs into friends from “the jungle,” but won’t give them her address.
What Big Soda didn’t buy
Big Soda spent the big bucks. More than $10 million poured in from the Washington, D.C.-based American Beverage Association to defeat soda taxes on last week’s ballots in Berkeley and San Francisco. The soda tax passed in Berkeley, the first city to do so. In San Francisco, the tax was defeated. Big Soda has spent $117 million since 2009 to defeat soda taxes across the country, according to the New York Times. In San Francisco and Berkeley, Big Soda outspent children’s health advocates 18 to 1.
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