The following remarks were originally presented by Joshua M. Levin, Volunteer Staff Attorney, Tzedek DC[1] during the 2024 Labor Seder hosted by Jews United for Justice (JUFJ).

I want to thank Rabbi Miriam Leibman and everyone at JUFJ for welcoming me to address the work my organization, Tzedek DC,[2] has done on behalf of DC’s workers.  My wife, Debra, and I have long supported JUFJ and we are honored to be with you on this important night.

For most of us, a parking or speeding ticket – or a business license fee we have not paid – is a minor nuisance.  We grumble, we pay it, and we move on.

But for thousands of low-income DC residents, these fines can mean the difference between working and not working.  Until last year, these fines might even keep a DC driver from being able to lawfully drive.  The reason is DC’s Clean Hands Law.

Under that law, folks seeking to operate a business, or to work in more than 125 distinct occupations – over 48,000 workers – can be denied the occupational license required to do so if they owe the District of Columbia more than $100 in past fines, fees or taxes.  The government does not ask whether you can afford to pay off your debt to DC.  It does not care whether your debt is tied in any way to the job you need or the business you want to start.  The disqualification is automatic.  One fifth of all DC workers in over 125 occupations are affected, including street vendors, barbers, plumbers, nurses and more.  And the consequences fall disproportionately on Black DC residents and other residents from communities of color.

When it comes to the Clean Hands Law, the District of Columbia is an outlier in our region.  Neither Maryland nor Virginia has a law like it.  What that means is that DC workers with debt regularly decide to seek employment or set up shop outside of the District of Columbia, where their debt will not be an obstacle to their success.  In this way, the Clean Hands Law only hurts the District of Columbia and its workers.

My organization, Tzedek DC, has been working for years to change the Clean Hands Law, which was enacted to raise revenue but in fact only exists to punish poverty.  In 2023, the DC Council agreed with us and changed the law as it affects DC residents’ ability to get their driver’s licenses, but the law still keeps hot dog vendors, speech pathologists, plumbers and numerous other DC workers from getting the licenses they need to practice their craft.

Tzedek DC’s recent report on the Clean Hands Law, called “Locked Out,” profiles some of the clients we have worked with on this issue.  Many are Amharic-speaking vendors from Ethiopia or Eritrea, who were discouraged from selling food during Covid but who were still assessed quarterly licensing fees throughout Covid, while they were sitting at home.  The DC government now says these vendors owe the District thousands of dollars in past taxes – fees many cannot afford to pay – and they cannot resume their jobs until they do.

This is a matter of economic equity and racial equity.  Nearly 70% of DC’s small businesses are white-owned, compared to just 5.2% that are owned by Black residents.  The Clean Hands Law makes it that much harder for Black-owned business to get started.  White households also have 81 times the wealth of Black households – and 22 times the wealth of Latino households.  Because the Clean Hands Law falls most heavily on persons who carry long-term debt, it falls most heavily on these communities of color.

Last year, the DC Council passed a law that finally gives street vendors some hope.  The Street Vendor Advancement Act establishes an amnesty program that allows the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection to forgive vendors’ tax-related debt and fines accrued between 2010 and 2023.  But that program has not yet been fully implemented and requires vendors to go through an elaborate form-filling process and the filing of past tax returns.  And the law only applies to vendors, leaving over 120 other professions vulnerable.

On Passover, our matzah symbolizes freedom, human dignity and humility – as well as the awareness of a human existence beyond ourselves.  As an organization, Tzedek DC fights every day for the dignity of the many DC residents who often face lasting injury from laws that most of us are unaware of, and unaffected by.

May our first glass of wine be a vessel that helps each of us think of DC’s workers, and the work each of us can do to help them in their own struggle for human dignity.[3]

 

[1] These remarks were adapted from Tzedek DC’s 2023 report, “Locked Out: How DC Bans Workers with Unpaid Fines from More than 125 Jobs or Starting a Business, and What We Can Do About It.”

[2] Tzedek DC’s name is drawn from the ancient Jewish teaching “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue.” Headquartered at the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with lower incomes facing the often-devastating consequences of debt collection and credit-related obstacles. This mission is carried out as anti-racism work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide.  Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 3,000 client households in legal matters and catalyzed systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents. To learn more, visit www.tzedekdc.org.

[3] Tzedek DC’s work to reform DC’s Clean Hands Law is undertaken in partnership with a coalition of anti-poverty, civil rights, faith-based, consumer protection, and justice advocacy groups.  These include: 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East; Beloved Community Incubator; Bread for the City; Building Bridges Across the River / Skyland Workforce Development Center; Capital Area Asset Builders; CARECEN; DC Affordable Law Firm; DC Bar Pro Bono Center; DC Fiscal Policy Institute; DC Justice Lab; DC Volunteer Lawyers Project; Fines and Fees Justice Center; Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington; Jews United for Justice; Legal Aid Justice Center; Legal Aid DC; Legal Counsel for the Elderly; Network for Victim Recovery of DC; Peter Edelman, Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center; Pro Bono Institute; and Tzedek DC.