Peekaboo Traffic Ticket Fees: Part One- OMNI Fees

Ok gente, I apologize for not writing sooner but between running my office, going to court, and making a lil time for family, it all got a bit hectic!

So this is going to be the first part of a series of blogs talking about the various fines and hidden costs associated with traffic violations. Today, I’m going to start with OMNI fees.

OMNI fees…have you ever heard of them? No? Don’t worry…many people haven’t. Most people have no idea what one of these bad boys is until they actually get one, or two…or four.

So, basically, an OMNI fee gets attached to a citation when it becomes an active warrant. This fee, if not paid, keeps you from being able to renew your driver’s license. Don’t get this mixed up with the Scofflaw fee (that’s another blog), where you will be denied the ability to register your car—this is a completely separate fee!

How can the city do this? Easy. The Texas Transportation Code Chapter 706 allows those cities that have contracted with DPS, like El Paso, to deny the renewal of a driver’s license for failing to appear for the citation or failing to pay or satisfy a court order.  (Texas Trans. Code Sec. 706.004).

How much does this cost? Under Texas Trans. Code Sec 706.007, the cost PER citation is $30. That means if you were pulled over and received four different citations on that stop, and then you later missed court and received warrants, you’re now on the hook for an addition $120 in order to renew your driver’s license.

This isn’t the worst part.

Let’s say you hire a lawyer and get those warrants removed. And later, that lawyer goes to court and for whatever reason, your tickets are dismissed. Win, right? Well, not exactly. Even though the underlying offense was dismissed, YOU’RE STILL ON THE HOOK FOR $120.

But…wait…weren’t these tickets dismissed…?

Yep, Texas Transportation Code doesn’t care. The exact wording for this is:

Sec. 706.006.  PAYMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE FEE.

(a)  A person who fails to appear for a complaint or citation for an offense described by Section 706.002(a) shall be required to pay an administrative fee of $30 for each complaint or citation reported to the department under this chapter, unless the person is acquitted of the charges for which the person failed to appear.  The person shall pay the fee when:

(1)  the court enters judgment on the underlying offense reported to the department;

(2)  the underlying offense is dismissed;  or

(3)  bond or other security is posted to reinstate the charge for which the warrant was issued.

(b)  A person who fails to pay or satisfy a judgment ordering the payment of a fine and cost in the manner the court orders shall be required to pay an administrative fee of $30.

(c)  The department may deny renewal of the driver's license of a person who does not pay a fee due under this section until the fee is paid.  The fee required by this section is in addition to any other fee required by law.

How is this fair?? It’s not. It sucks. But don’t expect any sympathy from the City. While looking up information regarding OMNI fees, I came across a power point presentation from the Texas Municipal Courts Education Center. It’s a pretty interesting read; so if you want to see the whole thing, click here. But what really caught my attention was a quote by David Marquez, Enforcement Director for El Paso. “It’s a big stick…these are brand-new moneys coming in.”

Ouch.

Are you really surprised? This is the same city that’s shaking you down for a $50 parking ticket from the late 80’s.

I’m still looking into this and whether there’s any way around these fees. Unfortunately, as of now, there isn’t anything we can do. My advice? Either hire an attorney when you get that ticket, or make sure you don’t miss your hearing. The cost is so much more than you realize!

School Has Started and So Have School Zone Violations!

While perusing Facebook today, I saw that KISS FM had posted this article on the area of interest of EPPD this month. It listed some of the charges and fines that come with school zones and briefly mentioned the offense of overtaking a bus. This is the violation I want to talk about.

Basically, this is when you pass a school bus that has stopped and has flashing lights or one of those stop signs sticking out the side of it. Do you know that all traffic is supposed to stop at that point? Kids are like squirrels that dart out of these secret crevices, and into traffic. Stopping is so that you don’t squish the squirrel. I’ve heard that school busses may soon put cameras on the sides of the bus to catch the license plates of those people who fly past them without stopping…that’s how bad the problem has become!

Notwithstanding the whole, we-don’t-want-to-squish-running-kids-because-that-would-really-suck aspect to this law, the fine if you violate this one is pretty hefty. It can be upwards of $500! Many justice of the peace judges, although they continue to allow defensive driving to be taken for this offense, really get peeved at this citation. And remember, especially if you’ve already taken defensive driving before that year, it’s ALWAYS to the discretion of the judge on whether he/she will let you take defensive driving again. This ticket can be pretty hard for us to fight, especially if our client has had several of these school zone violations.

So, what’s the moral of the story? Be safe out there—especially since school just started up. Slow down around school zones and busses because the cops are watching you, but they’re also watching out for your little ones!

Collection Letters From the Longest Named Law Firm Ever

So, I had a great comment/ question from “Tony” who asked my thoughts about those collection letters coming from the Law Firm of Delgado, Acosta, Spencer, Linebarger and Perez. KVIA did a special report on them that you can read here.  Bottom line? I think they suck papas.

Basically, the City decided they weren’t collecting enough past due monies and hired this bulldog of a collection agency/ law firm to help them dig up all these old debts. In fact, my husband recently received one of these letters regarding an alleged parking meter violation from 1995! My husband barely remembers what he did ten minutes ago let alone whether or not he paid a parking ticket over 20 years ago!

One of the [many] problems I have with these letters is that they expect YOU to prove to THEM that the debt was paid. Um…I’m sorry law firm…who are you again? I don’t know you…. other than your word and threatening letter, I don’t see anything that shows I owe you a damn thing. Show me a citation. Show me where the City charged me that extra $50 or $65 dollars from when I initially paid the ticket. Why didn’t the City ask for that cost when I paid off the ticket? Since when are hidden costs okay from a City agency??  I say prove it or remove it!

Unfortunately, what I say and what is actually happening are two different things. I think someone, somewhere, is going to take one of these cases to a higher court and hopefully then, we’ll get some resolution to this situation. Until then, don’t be too surprised if your great-great-great grandfather gets one of these collection letters because the horse pulling his buggy took a crap on El Paso Street and he failed to pay the fine. Back then it was a 25¢ fine so I’m sure he now owes approximately $5,000. That’s some expensive caca.

And So It Begins...

I’m sure you’re wondering why we’re here today…ha! I’ve always wanted to say that! OK, bad jokes aside, why AM I here? Well, let me begin with a brief introduction: Hi. I’m Monique. A pleasure to meet you! I’m a criminal defense attorney in El Paso, Texas who handles all sorts of criminal matters but on here, I’m going to be talking mostly about traffic citations and anything else related to tickets. I may get off topic on occasion but don’t worry, I do that a lot. I promise it’ll make sense in the end!

There's a lot to talk about with regards to tickets so I’ll cover various topics every week. If you have questions or want me to look into anything, please feel free to send me a message or comment and let me know!