CA AB2122

Prohibits courts from issuing bench warrants for arrest when a person fails to appear or pay fines for infraction-level offenses (minor violations punishable only by fines, not jail time)

Eliminates the misdemeanor charge for failure to pay traffic fines or bail installments, while retaining the misdemeanor only for failure to appear on non-infraction charges

Removes the requirement for courts to report failure-to-appear convictions to the Department of Motor Vehicles

Allows courts to impound a driver's license for up to 30 days (instead of issuing arrest warrants) when someone fails to pay infraction fines, with exceptions for those who need to drive for employment

Addresses racial disparities in enforcement, citing data showing Black individuals are nearly 10 times more likely to receive infraction citations than White individuals and make up 48.7% of failure-to-appear arrests in San Francisco despite being 5.8% of the population