Webinar: Reforming how cities fund themselves through fines and fees

Local governments across the country raise billions of dollars a year through court fines, fees, and forfeitures. In some jurisdictions, that revenue has become a fixture of the municipal budget. When police departments and courts come to depend on citation revenue to fund basic operations, the incentives of public safety and revenue generation can come into direct conflict, with consequences for public safety and trust in law enforcement.

Reason Foundation’s recent report, Taxation by Citation: A 50-State Data and Policy Report on Local Government Fines and Forfeitures, offers the most comprehensive picture yet of this issue. On September 3, a Reason Foundation webinar with leading experts unpacked findings from the report.

You can watch the webinar here:

The panelists and moderator of this webinar:

Ari Bargil

Ari Bargil is a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice. He joined IJ’s Florida Office in September of 2012, and litigates constitutional cases protecting economic liberty, property rights, school choice, and free speech in both federal and state courts.

Ari leads IJ’s Zoning Justice Project, a campaign to protect and promote the freedom to peacefully and productively use property. As part of that work, Ari frequently represents property owners battling aggressive zoning regulations and excessive fines in state and federal court nationwide. Ari has also litigated in state and federal appeals courts challenging the constitutionality of catastrophic fines for trivial code-enforcement violations.

In addition to maintaining an active litigation practice in all of IJ’s core areas, Ari also regularly testifies before state and local legislative bodies and committees on issues ranging from occupational licensing to property rights regulation. Ari’s work has been featured by USA Today, NPR, the New York Times, Fox News, Washington Post, Miami Herald and other national and local publications. A native Floridian, Ari attended the Florida State University College of Law. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 2006.

Representative Joseph Gullett

Joseph Gullett has represented Georgia House District 19 since first being elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 2019, serving communities in Paulding and West Cobb counties.

In the House, Gullett serves as Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Judicial and serves on numerous other committees, including Appropriations, Insurance, Banks & Banking, Governmental Affairs, Judiciary Non Civil, Judiciary Juvenile, and Technology & Infrastructure Innovation.

Gullett also serves as Vice Chairman of the Georgia Commission on Family Violence, a statewide commission focused on improving Georgia’s response to family violence.

Outside the Capitol, Gullett brings more than 25 years of experience in technology at Truist, where he serves as a Vice President. He is also a former small business owner who built and operated a company employing more than 50 people. His experience across technology, business, and public service brings a practical, problem solving perspective to his work in the Legislature.

Gullett is deeply involved in his community, including service with the Rotary Club of Paulding County, the Boys & Girls Club, and the Paulding Public Safety Appreciation Foundation, where he serves as President Emeritus.

Joseph and his wife, Jessica, have been married for more than 20 years and are foster parents. They live in Paulding County with their son.

James Small

James Small brings more than three decades of emergency response experience with over a decade as a combined public safety chief, having led a consolidated police, fire, and EMS department and was named Wisconsin State Career Fire Chief of the Year. He served a four-year term on the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Standards Board and currently sits on the Wisconsin Emergency Medical Services Board, where he chairs the Rural EMS Sub-committee.

James now works statewide to strengthen rural EMS systems and workforce sustainability. He remains an active firefighter/paramedic, is pursuing a doctorate in Leadership and Organizational Development, and writes regularly on public safety leadership and ethics for national publications.

Vittorio Nastasi (moderator)

Vittorio Nastasi is the director of criminal justice policy at Reason Foundation, where he provides research and technical assistance to lawmakers and stakeholders across the country.

His work focuses on removing barriers to employment, housing, and education for individuals with criminal records; curbing excessive criminal fines and fees; and reducing system overreach through policy research and legislative engagement. His research and commentary have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Orange County Register, Atlanta Journal–Constitution, Palm Beach Post, and Tallahassee Democrat, among others.

Before joining Reason, he worked with the James Madison Institute and the DeVoe L. Moore Center, researching land-use regulation, occupational licensing, and criminal justice policy. Nastasi holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science and is currently a doctoral candidate at Florida State University’s Askew School of Public Administration and Policy. He is based in Tallahassee, Florida.

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Source: https://reason.org/commentary/webinar-reforming-how-cities-fund-themselves-through-fines-and-fees/