A repayment program established by the state last year to protect low-income Californians from losing their driver’s licenses over unpaid traffic fines is not working in many California counties, according to a coalition of civil rights advocates, who say local courts are failing to take a person’s ability to pay into account.Led by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the coalition filed suit Wednesday against Solano County Superior Court — one of dozens, it says, that have been intractable on the issue — and warned 26 others that they could be next.

The ACLU is joined in the suit by Rubicon Programs, Bay Area Legal Aid, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Western Center on Law & Poverty, and the Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman law firm.

Yanking Licenses Over Unpaid Fines Harms the Poor, Suit Charges