BILL NUMBER: ABX3 77	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Torlakson

                        JULY 16, 2009

   An act to amend Section 1520.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure,
relating to unclaimed property.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 77, as introduced, Torlakson. Unclaimed property: gift
certificates: poison control center funding.
    Existing law, the Unclaimed Property Law, governs the disposition
of unclaimed property, including the escheat of certain property to
the state. Those provisions require a person holding funds or other
property escheated to the state to report to the Controller certain
information regarding the property and the owner.
   Existing law regulates the sale of gift certificates, as defined,
and excludes unredeemed gift certificates from the unclaimed property
law.
   This bill would, instead, include gift certificates within the
unclaimed property law and would require the full value of a gift
certificate issued commencing July 1, 2006, or portion thereof that
has not been redeemed within 3 years after issuance of the gift
certificate to escheat to the state and be forwarded to the
Controller. The bill would provide that it does not alter the rights
and responsibilities of the seller and buyer under the terms of the
gift certificate and would authorize a seller to claim the value of a
subsequently redeemed gift certificate as a credit against the
seller's next payment to the Controller.
   Pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services System and Prehospital
Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act (EMS Act), the Emergency Medical
Services Authority (the authority) is established within the
California Health and Human Services Agency to administer the
emergency medical services system to coordinate and integrate
effective and efficient emergency medical services throughout the 58
counties of the state.
   The EMS Act requires the authority to establish minimum standards
for poison control centers, to designate poison control centers, and
to establish their geographical service areas. The EMS Act authorizes
a county to establish an emergency medical services fund for
reimbursement of certain EMS-related costs, including, but not
limited to, the funding of poison control centers.
   This bill would establish the Escheated Gift Certificate/Poison
Control Center Funding Account within the State Treasury and would
require deposit of the funds collected pursuant to this bill into the
account for the purposes of funding poison control centers, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, and would require the transfer of
excess funds to the General Fund.
   The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a
fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for
that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal
emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on
December 19, 2008.
   This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency
declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008,
pursuant to the California Constitution.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 1520.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure is
amended to read:
   1520.5.   (a)     Notwithstanding any law,
 Section 1520  does not apply   applies
 to gift certificates subject to Title 1.4A (commencing with
Section 1749.45) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code. 
However,  Section 1520 applies to any gift certificate
 that has an expiration date and  that is given in
exchange for money or any other thing of value  , without regard
to whether or not the gift certificate has an expiration date  .

   (b) Any gift certificate, as described in subdivision (a), that is
not redeemed within three years after the date of issuance shall
escheat to the state. The full value of the gift certificate, or the
unredeemed portion of the gift certificate, shall be forwarded to the
Controller in accordance with this chapter within 30 days after the
end of the three-year period.  
   (c) In the case of a gift certificate that has no expiration date,
or that has a redemption period that exceeds the three-year escheat
period set forth in subdivision (b), this section does not alter the
rights of the purchaser to redeem an escheated gift certificate or
the duty of the seller to honor an escheated gift certificate
according to the terms of the gift certificate. If the purchaser
redeems the certificate after the three-year escheat period set forth
in subdivision (b), the seller may claim the value of the gift
certificate as a credit against the seller's next payment to the
Controller pursuant to this section.  
   (d) Funds collected by the Controller pursuant to this section
shall be deposited into the Escheated Gift Certificate/Poison Control
Center Funding Account that is hereby established within the State
Treasury for use, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the
purposes of funding poison control centers. Funds in the account that
are in excess of the funds needed for funding poison control centers
shall be transferred to the General Fund.  
   (e) The amendments to this section adding this subdivision shall
have retroactive effect and shall apply to gift certificates issued
commencing July 1, 2006. 
  SEC. 2.  This act addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the
Governor by proclamation on December 19, 2008, pursuant to
subdivision (f) of Section 10 of Article IV of the California
Constitution.