This is the courtesy notice sent by the California Superior Court, dated May 10.  As you can see, it indicates a new due date of July 10, an "Amount Due" of $146.00, and an "Administrative Fee Amount" of $156.00.

On May 20, based on the advice of the National Motorists Association ticket fighting guidebooks, I submitted a letter making an informal request for discovery based on California Penal Code Section 1054.5(b). It was addressed to the District Attorney at the address indicated on the citation and on this courtesy notice, and included a check for $159.00 for bail, so I thought I had all the bases covered. Little did I expect that their response would ignore 99% of the letter in favor of a single sentence near the end, and never actually get to the people to whom it was addressed.

As I came to understand it, the "Administrative Fee Amount" is the amount that would have been due if I had opted for a Traffic School dismissal of this citation, but I mistakenly assumed that I would have to pay this amount if I wanted to keep the option of such a dismissal open in the future.

When I was about three months through the battle over this ticket, I seriously entertained that option.  It's a mentally taxing and somewhat time-consuming process, fighting City Hall. But I kept going with the thought of making sure that they would not even be a single step closer to the ultimate end of increasing my insurance rates and suspending my license, partly because of that 18 month window for Traffic School.  If by some dumb luck I were to get another ticket within 18 months that is harder to fight than a RADAR speeding ticket, I'd regret having forclosed my option for Traffic School. Why hand them anything on a silver platter when you don't have to, right?