BILL ANALYSIS ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 680| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 680 Author: Hall (D) Amended: 6/22/09 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-1, 7/7/09 AYES: Corbett, Harman, Florez, Leno NOES: Walters ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 64-13, 5/28/09 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Local government: fees and judgments SOURCE : Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department DIGEST : This bill revises several provisions relating to the collection of funds from judgment debtors and creates an ex-parte application for relief when a levying officer has not paid funds to a person entitled to a money judgment, and exempts those actions from the Tort Claims Act. ANALYSIS : Existing law prescribes the amounts of fees that may be charged for various services performed by county sheriffs and marshals. (Government Code Section 26720 et seq.) This bill, effective July 1, 2011, increases the following fees from $30 to $35: CONTINUED AB 680 Page 2 1.The fee for serving or executing any process or notice. (Government Code Section 26721.) 2.The fee for service of a summons, complaint, or prejudgment claim of right to possession in an action for unlawful detainer. (Government Code Section 26721.1.) 3.The fee for serving, executing, or processing a writ of attachment, writ of execution, writ of sale, order on real estate, and the fee for serving a record owner other than the defendant. (Government Code Section 26725.) 4.The fee for preparing and posting the initial notice of personal property sale under a writ of attachment, execution, sale, or order of court. (Government Code Section 26728.) 5.The fee for making a levy on personal property already in possession of the officer who is holding it under attachment in the same action. (Government Code Section 26734.) 6.The fee for executing and delivering any other instrument (other than a certificate or deed of sale; deed or certificate of redemption). (Government Code Section 26742.) 7.The fee for subpoenaing a witness. (Government code Section 26743.) 8.The fee for maintaining custody of property under levy by the use of a keeper for each day custody is maintained after the first day. (Government Code Section 26726(b).) 9.The fee for making a not found return on specified documents required to be served, and certifying that the person or property cannot be found at the given address. (Government Code Section 26738.) This bill, effective January 1, 2011, increases the fee for keeping and caring for property under a writ of attachment, execution, possession, or sale from $120 to $140, when employed for any eight-hour period or any part thereof. This bill permits that increased fee to be charged by any AB 680 Page 3 additional sheriff who performs keeping services that are required, and increases the maximum amount a sheriff may receive in a 24-hour period from $240 to $380 (double the fee amount). (Government Code Section 26726(a).) This bill, effective January 1, 2011, increases the fee that a keeper receives from $40 to $50, when, pursuant to Government Code Section 26738, a levying officer prepares a not-found return. (Government Code Section 26726(c).) This bill, effective January 1, 2011, increases the fee for cancellation of service, or execution of any process or notice prior to its completion, from $28 to 436. (Government Code Section 26736.) Existing law permits a court to issue a warrant for failure to appear pursuant to a subpoena or failure to appear pursuant to a court order, as an alternative to issuing a warrant for contempt, if certain statutory requirements are met. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 1993.) Existing law prescribes the fees for processing a warrant pursuant to Section 1993 that must be paid by the moving party. (Government Code Section 26744.5.) This bill, effective January 1, 2011, increases those fees as follows: 1.$30 to $35 to receive and process a warrant. 2.$28 to $35 to cancel the service of the warrants. 3.$60 to $75 if, using due diligence, the sheriff is unable to find the person at the address specified. 4.$75 to $85 to arrest the person. Existing law provides that a $15 fee shall be assessed by the sheriff or marshal for certification of correction on each citation that requires inspection for proof of correction, as specified. (Government Code Section 26746.1.) This bill, effective January 1, 2011, increases that fee to $17. AB 680 Page 4 Existing law provides that $10 of any fee collected by the sheriff's civil division or marshal for performing specified services must be deposited in a special fund in the county treasury. (Government Code Section 26731.) This bill, effective January 1, 2011, increases that amount to $15. Existing law authorizes the sheriff to charge a $10 processing fee for each disbursement of money collected under a writ of attachment, execution, possession, or sale (except child support collections). (Government Code Section 26746.) This bill increases that fee to $12. Existing law provides that if a writ is issued to enforce a judgment, a levying officer must, among other things, compute and collect the amount of additional interest accrued on the principal amount of the judgment remaining unsatisfied from the date of issuance of the writ until the date interest ceases to accrue. Existing law permits the levying officer to adjust the amount of daily interest to reflect partial satisfaction, if the amounts collected periodically do not fully satisfy the money judgment. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 685.050.) This bill, instead, requires the levying officer to make that adjustment. Existing law requires a levying officer to distribute the proceeds or collection of a money judgment by a writ of execution in order of priority, including the judgment creditor to (1) satisfy costs and interest accruing after the issuance of the writ pursuant to which the sale or collection is conducted, and (2) satisfy the amount due on the judgment with costs and interest, as entered on the writ. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 701.810.) This bill clarifies that the distribution of proceeds or collection from a money judgment to a judgment creditor must be in the following order: (1) any costs and interest accruing on the judgment after issuance of the writ, as AB 680 Page 5 specified, and (2) the principal amount due on the judgment with costs and interest as entered on the writ. Existing law authorizes a person entitled to a money judgment held by a sheriff to make a demand for that money, and if the sheriff neglects or refuses to pay over to that person the amount owed, the person is authorized to recover the amount owed, 25 percent damages, and interest at a rate of 10 percent per month. (Government code Section 26680.) Those provisions apply to a levying officer if (1) the officer fails to pay the proceeds or deposit them with the court, as specified, (2) a person entitled to any of the proceeds has filed a written demand for payment with the levying officer, and (3) the levying officer has failed, within 10 days after the demand is filed, to pay the person that filed the demand the proceeds to which the person is entitled. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 701.820.) This bill authorizes a judgment creditor to file an ex-parte application for an order directing the levying officer to show cause why relief should not be granted pursuant to Section 26680 of the Government Code, as specified. This bill provides that if the court finds the facts alleged in the ex-parte application to be knowingly false, or made in bad faith, the court may award costs and reasonable attorney fees to the levying officer. This bill similarly allows the recovery of costs, including reasonable attorney's fees, under Section 26680. Existing law requires the levying officer to promptly distribute the proceeds of a sale or collection of the entitled parties, and authorizes the levying officer, if proceeds are not to be received in one payment, to accumulate proceeds received during a 30 day period and make payment of those proceeds to the entitled parties within 20 days of the end of the 30-day period. (Code of Civil Procedure Section 701.820(c).) This bill requires the levying officer, if proceeds are not received in one payment, to make payment of those proceeds to the entitled persons within 10 days of the end of the 30-day period. AB 680 Page 6 Existing law, the Tort Claims Act, provides that a claim for money or damages against the state or a local public entity must be presented in accordance with the terms of the Act. (Government Code Sections 905, 905.2.) Existing law provides that 13 specified claims against local public entities are exempted from the Act, including claims under the Revenue and Taxation Code, claims by public employees regarding salary and benefits, and worker's compensation claims. (Government Code Section 905.O This bill exempts claims for the recovery of the money from a levying officer pursuant to a money judgment under Section 26680, as specified, from the Act. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 7/8/09) Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (source) Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs Bill Lutze, Sheriff of Inyo County Brian Muller, Sheriff of Mariposa County California Association of Legal Support Professionals California Correctional Supervisors Organization California State Association of Counties Gregory Ahern, Sheriff of Alameda County Jeff Neves, Sheriff of El Dorado County Keith Royal, Sheriff of Nevada County Office of the Sheriff, San Bernardino County Peace Officers Research Association of California Perry L. Reniff, Sheriff of Butte County Phil Wowak, Acting Sheriff of Santa Cruz County Regional Council of Rural Counties Riverside Sheriffs' Association Sacramento County Sheriff's Department Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Tom Bosenko, Sheriff of Shasta County Warren Rupe, Sheriff of Contra Costa County ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, "Under current law, a county sheriff's office is authorized to collect various civil fees for serving, executing, and AB 680 Page 7 processing required court notices, writs, orders and other services provided by a sheriff's order. "While the costs associated with these services has increased dramatically in recent years, most of the civil fees have remained stagnant since 2000. Fuel prices alone have skyrocketed and personnel costs, such as pay, benefits, and other administrative costs have also increased significantly." The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, sponsor of the bill, states that "[b]ased on the increased costs to conduct business, a moderate increase to some of the fees would greatly enhance our ability to continue to provide the same high level of service to the community. The proposed fee increased would range from $5 to $20 for the various services provided by county sheriffs and marshals. Many of the proposed fees have not been increases since the passage of AB 1768 (Steinberg), chapter 629, Statutes of 2000, and generally reflect their present amount adjusted for inflation. (For reference, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI inflation calculator states that $30 in 2000 is the equivalent of $37.26 today.) The numerous sections for which a $30 fee would be increased to $35 to reflect that change in value due to inflation. ASSEMBLY FLOOR : AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Gilmore, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Yamada, Bass NOES: Anderson, DeVore, Fuller, Gaines, Garrick, Harkey, Knight, Logue, Niello, Silva, Smyth, Tran, Villines NO VOTE RECORDED: Duvall, Hagman, Jeffries AB 680 Page 8 RJG:cm 7/8/09 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END ****