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Council of the District of Columbia overrides veto of bill making fare evasion a civil offense

By Press Release
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 22, 2019

Contact: Erik Salmi

Council of the District of Columbia overrides veto of bill making fare evasion a civil offense

By a vote of 11-2, the Council of the District of Columbia overrode the Mayor’s veto of the “Fare Evasion Decriminalizaton Act of 2018,” meaning the bill becomes law following congressional review. Statement from Councilmember Charles Allen, Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety:

“Making fare evasion a civil fine – instead of a criminal charge that comes with a lifelong record – is the just and safe decision for the District and WMATA. We can’t succeed as a city if we continue the failed policies of the past at the expense of our residents’ futures.

We’ve become lost in the complexity of the issue; we don’t see it for what it is: some people are too poor to pay $2. And that is striking. We live in a city where some of our neighbors are too poor to pay $2.

Decriminalization does not legalize fare evasion, no matter how desperately some people want you to believe this. It does not stop a Metro Transit Police Officer from doing his or her job to keep WMATA safe – they can still stop fare evaders, write a ticket, and refuse service by escorting a fare evader off the bus or out of the station. But the bill does change the consequence for fare evasion to better fit the offense and put an end to this failed policy of overcriminalizing our residents. We create more public safety problems than we solve by criminalizing something as small as not being able to pay a $2 bus fare.”

Additional Resources on the Bill:

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