BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: AB 73 HEARING: 5/20/09
AUTHOR: Hayashi FISCAL: No
VERSION: 5/11/09 CONSULTANT:
Weinberger
ALAMEDA COUNTY'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FEES
Background and Existing Law
Counties can charge fees when they issue marriage licenses
or provide certified copies of vital records, such as birth
certificates and death records. Counties must add charges
on to their marriage license fees to fund domestic violence
shelters. The additional amount has increased over time
and is now $23 (SB 5, Presley, 1993).
In 2001, the Legislature authorized a pilot program in
Contra Costa County, allowing the County to provide
governmental oversight and coordination of domestic
violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts
within the county (SB 425, Torlakson, 2001). The County
must make findings and declarations about the need for
oversight and coordination and may fund the program by
increasing fees by a maximum of $4 on certified copies of
marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal death
records, and death records. The County must deposit the
fees into a special county fund, with no more than 4% being
retained for administrative costs, and may increase the
fees each year by the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
In a 2006 report to the Assembly and Senate Judiciary
Committees, Contra Costa County cited many improved
outcomes resulting from funding for oversight and
coordination activities. Based on this success,
legislators made Contra Costa's program permanent (SB 968,
Torlakson, 2006).
The Legislature authorized similar programs in Alameda and
Solano Counties in 2004. The counties can increase fees
for marriage licenses and certified copies of birth
certificates, fetal death records, and death records by up
to $2 and must report to the legislative Judiciary
Committees by July 1, 2009. The programs sunset on January
1, 2010 (AB 2010, Hancock, 2004). Because the City of
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Berkeley runs its own domestic violence programs and
maintains birth certificates, fetal death, and death
records for city residents, it received authorization to
increase vital records fees separately from Alameda County
(AB 1712, Hancock, 2005).
Alameda County and City of Berkeley officials want the
Legislature to make their programs permanent.
Proposed Law
Assembly Bill 73 repeals the January 1, 2010 automatic
termination date in the statutes that authorize the County
of Alameda and the City of Berkeley to increase fees for
marriage licenses and certified copies of marriage
certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and
death records to fund oversight and coordination of
agencies dealing with domestic violence, making the
statutes permanent.
AB 73 requires the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to
submit to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Judiciary a
preliminary report no later than July 1, 2009, and a final
report no later than July 1, 2014. Both reports must
contain the following information:
The annual amounts of funds received and expended
from fee increases for the purpose of governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence
prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts in
the county.
Outcomes achieved as a result of the activities
associated with the implementation of this section.
AB 73 contains findings and declarations regarding domestic
violence and the ongoing need for the domestic violence
prevention programs that receive funding from vitals
records fees in Alameda County.
Comments
1. Sustaining a successful program . Since 2004, Alameda
County has leveraged the funds generated by fees on vital
records to support the core operation of the Alameda County
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Family Justice Center (ACFJC). ACFJC is the County's
primary coordinator of domestic violence services,
providing victims with a comprehensive array of services
under one roof. The coordination efforts also use video
relay stations at police departments, hospitals, shelters,
family resource centers, employment centers and other
agencies that can link victims to the 65 services and
service providers who work in and with the ACFJC. As
evidence of the program's success, Alameda County
prosecutors report that, since the ACFJC opened, more
domestic violence victims are willing to press charges,
courts are dismissing fewer domestic cases, and more cases
are being charged as felonies. AB 73 allows Alameda County
to sustain its successful efforts to combat domestic
violence.
2. Fee or tax ? Despite the Legislature's past
authorization of additional fees on vital records for the
purpose of funding domestic violence programs, the question
persists whether these charges constitute "taxes," which
require voter approval, rather than "fees." County
officials maintain that charges imposed on vital records
fall within the category of "regulatory fees" that have
been validated by the courts. To qualify as a regulatory
fee, a charge cannot exceed the reasonable cost of
providing the services for which the fee is charged and
must not be levied for unrelated revenue purposes. It is
unclear, however, whether there is a sufficient
relationship between charges imposed on certified copies of
vital records and the coordination of domestic violence
programs to meet the standards for regulatory fees. If the
merits of a program like the one implemented in Alameda are
sufficiently clear, counties should simply seek voter
approval of taxes, rather than imposing ambiguous charges
that may be subject to future legal challenges.
3. Territorial issues . While not disputing the need to
reduce domestic violence, some child abuse prevention
advocates want to preserve fees on birth certificates as a
dedicated source for child abuse prevention. Currently, $4
from every fee paid for a birth certificate is allocated to
trust funds for child abuse prevention. Some advocates
oppose adding birth certificate fees for other purposes,
reasoning that such new fees may constrain their ability to
increase revenues for child abuse prevention in the future.
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County recorders argue that fees for vital records should
relate exclusively "to the cost of recording or obtaining
certified copies" of vital records and should not force the
county recorder's office into the unwanted role of being "a
revenue generator." The Committee may wish to consider
whether, despite the authorizations already granted to
Contra Costa, Alameda, and Solano counties, vital records
fees are the most appropriate revenue source for
coordinating domestic violence prevention.
4. Related legislation . Last year, legislators passed AB
2231 (Hayashi, 2008), which would have extended the sunset
dates for the Alameda County and Solano County programs
until 2015. Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed that bill,
arguing that the additional vital records fees are actually
taxes. At its April 29, 2009 hearing, the Senate Local
Government Committee passed SB 635 (Wiggins, 2009), which
authorizes additional vital records fees to fund domestic
violence programs in Sonoma County. AB 1275 (DeSaulnier,
2007), which authorized any county to impose additional
vital records fees to fund domestic violence, child abuse,
and family violence programs, died in the Senate Local
Government Committee. SB 605 (Alquist, 2007), which
authorized additional vital records fees to fund domestic
violence programs in Santa Clara County, died in the Senate
Local Government Committee.
5. Double referral . The Senate Rules Committee has
ordered a double-referral of AB 73 to the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Judiciary Committee: 7-3
Assembly Floor: 44-29
Support and Opposition (5/14/09)
Support : Alameda County, Cities of Berkeley and Oakland,
Alameda County District Attorney's Office, Alameda County
Family Justice Center, Solano County Office of Family
Violence Prevention, American Federation of State, County
and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, Child Abuse Prevention
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Council of Contra Costa County, Child Abuse Listening,
Interviewing, and Coordination Center, and Youth Ventures.
Opposition : Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.