BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                            Senator Carole Migden, Chair

                                           57 (Alarcon)
          
          Hearing Date:  5/26/05          Amended: 5/23/05
          Consultant: Nora Lynn           Policy Vote: Public Safety 4-1

















































          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 57 authorizes county boards of supervisors to  
          levy assessments of $2 for every $10 or fraction thereof on  
          every fine, penalty or forfeiture imposed for criminal  
          convictions to fund emergency medical services. SB 57 also  
          authorizes county boards of supervisors to levy an additional $2  
          assessment for every $10 for violations involving seatbelt use,  
          speeding, driving under the influence and domestic violence.  
          Counties with pediatric trauma units are allotted 15% of the  
          funds collected.
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions               2005-06     2006-07    2007-08    Fund
           
          Assessments                  Potentially significant  
          revenues;Special*
                                       See staff comments

          Court programming costs      $184**                       
          Special*
          (first assessment)

          Court programming costs      Up to $1,425**               
          Special*
          (second assessment)
                                       
          Manual processing (statewide)$180      $180     $180      
          Special*

          Manual notices (Fresno)      $150***   $300***  $300***   
          Special*
          _____
          * Maddy Emergency Medical Services Fund; 15% of total slated for  
          counties' pediatric trauma units
          ** Based on number of counties that participate; cost of $25,000  
          per county
          *** If Fresno County elects to assess $2 additional assessment  
          on specific offenses
          _________________________________________________________________ 
          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria to be placed on the  
          Suspense file.










          Until fiscal year 2002-03, 170% in penalty assessments were  
          applied to every fine. The current penalty assessments are up to  
          250% and are assessed as follows:
                 State penalty assessment: Penal Code Sec. 1464  
               authorizes the assessment of $10 for every $10 in base  
               fines with 30% going to the assessing county and 70%  
               transmitted to the state and allocated as follows: 0.33% to  
               the Fish & Game Preservation Fund; 32.02% to the  
               Restitution Fund; 23.99% to the Peace Officers Training  
               Fund; 25.7% to the Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund;  
               7.88% to the to the Corrections Training Fund; 0.78% (not  
               to exceed $850,000 
                                    -- continued--











































            Page 2
            SB 57 (Alarcon)



               per year) to the Local Public Prosecutors and Public  
               Defenders Fund; 8.64% to the Victim-Witness Assistance  
               Fund; and 0.66% to the Traumatic Brain Injury Fund.
                 County penalty assessment: Government Code Sec. 76000 et  
               seq authorizes the assessment of $7 for every $10 in base  
               fines. The money collected is to be placed in any of the  
               following funds if established by a county's board of  
               supervisors: Courthouse Construction Fund; Criminal Justice  
               Facilities Construction Fund; Automated Fingerprint  
               Identification Fund; Emergency Medical Services Fund; and  
               DNA Identification Fund.
                 State surcharge: As part of the 2002-03 Budget Act, the  
               Legislature imposed a temporary state surcharge of 20% on  
               every base fine collected by the court. The surcharge took  
               effect on Sept. 30, 2002, and all money collected is  
               deposited into the General Fund.
                 State court facilities construction: Two years ago, as  
               part of the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, the  
               Legislature established the State Court Facilities  
               Construction Fund and added a state court construction  
               penalty assessment of up to $5 for every $10 in base fines.  
               The variation in the assessment amount is dependent on the  
               amount collected by the county for deposit into the local  
               Courthouse Construction Fund established pursuant to  
               Government Code Sec. 76100. As a result the penalty  
               assessment ranges from 0 for every $10 in two counties to  
               the full $5 for every $10 in nine counties. This provision  
               took effect on Jan. 1, 2003.
                 Court security: As part of the 2003-04 Budget Act, the  
               Legislature approved a flat fee of $20 on every conviction  
               for a criminal offense to fund court security costs.
                 Proposition 69: Finally, as approved by voters in  
               November 2004, Prop. 69 levied a $1 penalty assessment on  
               every $10 in fines and forfeitures resulting from criminal  
               and traffic offenses and dedicates these revenues to state  
               and local governments for DNA databank implementation  
               purposes. The state will receive 70% of these funds in the  
               first two years, 50% in the third year and 25% annually  
               thereafter. The remainder goes to local governments.

          State Controller penalty assessment data indicates the state  
          collects approximately $146 million annually in penalty revenue.  









          If all 58 counties were to elect to assess the additional  
          across-the-board $2 assessment, revenues to their Maddy Funds  
          could exceed $16 million per year. Revenues from the second $2  
          assessment for specified crimes are unknown. Assuming that  
          assessments on the specified crimes cited in SB 57 make up  
          one-tenth of all assessments levied by courts, additional  
          revenues would be in the neighborhood of $1.6 million. Judicial  
          Council estimates reprogramming existing case management and  
          accounting systems to accommodate the additional $2 assessment  
          will cost approximately $184,000. 

          Further, Judicial Council indicates there would be a need for  
          some manual identification of certain violations of reckless  
          driving statutes. Not all violations of these sections would be  
          subject to the additional penalty assessment, so court staff  
          would need to 
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          SB 57 (Alarcon)



          review each case for the assessment's applicability. There were  
          24,590 reckless driving convictions in 2002; at 15 minutes of  
          court time per violation for court clerks' assessments, costs  
          would be approximately $180,000 per year.

          Additional costs would be incurred for programming to include  
          the additional $2 crime-specific assessments authorized by SB  
          57. Preliminary Judicial Council estimates those programming  
          costs would average approximately $25,000 per county, or $1.425  
          million statewide. 

          Fresno County's system, however, cannot be modified to implement  
          the offense-specific penalty assessment and, therefore, courts  
          would have to manually calculate the affected offenses'  
          assessments. There were 145,000 traffic infractions in Fresno  
          County in 2003. Assuming 30% of those were for speeding  
          violations, 43,500 cases per year would require manual  
          calculation of the penalty assessments and the manual sending of  
          courtesy notices to offenders. Manually reviewing processing  
          courtesy notices alone would likely incur costs of $275,000

          STAFF NOTES the author has indicated intent to further amend the  
          bill while on Suspense to address inadvertent drafting errors.