A County of Marin initiative that helps local undocumented community members obtain driver’s licenses is officially an award-winning program.
The Marin County Public Defender’s Office was notified this week that the California Public Defender’s Association recognized Marin’s program — one of the first of its kind statewide — as its Public Defender Program of the Year. The formal title of Marin’s program is the Bilingual AB 60 Workshops and Misdemeanor Driving Offense Mitigation Program, or just the DMV Liaison Program for short.
Assembly Bill 60, which became state law in 2013, allows those who are unable to provide proof of legal presence in the United States a way to obtain a driver’s license. Applicants must provide satisfactory proof of identity, California residency, and meet all other requirements to get a license, then pass the knowledge and driving test at a DMV office. The AB 60 program provides vital protections and benefits to Marin’s undocumented residents, specifically in the growing Latino population. The Public Defender’s Office, under the direction of David Joseph Sutton, delivers the services in collaboration with Canal Alliance, Legal Aid of Marin, and Dominican University’s Service-Learning Program.
One of the most common criminal charges in Marin County Superior Court has been for driving without a license or driving on a suspended license, resulting in hundreds of Public Defender clients on probation. Most of Marin has limited public transportation options, enticing undocumented adults to take the risk and drive illegally.
“We believed, as do most people, that clogging the courts with these types of cases is an inappropriate use of the criminal system,” wrote Deputy Public Defender Rachael Keast in her application for the state award. “… Our clients wanted licenses, but it was just too difficult for many of them to figure out (the DMV process) on their own.”
The DMV Liaison, Gina Gonzalez, uses official DMV software and data to look up clients’ records and map plans to obtain licenses. She helps clients enroll in DUI school, figure out how to pay outstanding fines, get study materials for the test, and represents clients on phone calls to the DMV or DUI school. Occasionally, Gonzalez accompanies a client to a DMV appointment or files documentation to the criminal court or the District Attorney’s Office that might facilitate a client’s dismissal or another beneficial outcome.
The DMV Liaison program is part of the department’s Community Outreach Initiative. The program started in December 2021 when clients gained access to the department’s consultant specialist and a bilingual immigration attorney. By the end of its first year, 40 clients had benefited from the program to become licensed drivers. In 2023, 65 more qualified for licenses; there were 21 dismissals of criminal charges and 13 cases in which diversion from jail was granted. Gonzalez is now a full-time Public Defender employee.
“The Public Defender’s Office is tremendously proud of the DMV Liaison Program and the recognition that the program has received,” Sutton said. “The program is impactful because it is both restorative and preventative. We are working with individuals involved in the criminal legal system to restore their driving privileges, thereby avoiding future involvement while simultaneously working to ensure that our most vulnerable community members never enter the criminal legal system in the first instance.”
Sutton’s department has 45 full-time employees and three assigned to the DMV program. Generally, the Public Defender staff is charged with providing legal defense and representation to indigent community members and other eligible people. Public Defender clients are not financially able to employ private attorneys for representation in court.
The Marin County Board of Supervisors plans to honor the Public Defender staff at an upcoming meeting.
The California Public Defenders Association provides continuing legal education for its membership and serves as a resource center for those in the practice of criminal defense law, increasing the professionalism of the defender community.
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Photo caption: Driver’s license applicants receive assistance from Dominican University staff members as part of the collaborative and award-winning Marin County DMV Liaison Program.
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