BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                        
                       SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
                            Senator Dave Cox, Chair


          BILL NO:  AB 1770                    HEARING:  6/16/10
          AUTHOR:  Galgiani                    FISCAL:  No
          VERSION:  6/9/10                     CONSULTANT:   
          Weinberger
          
            STANISLAUS COUNTY'S FEES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PROGRAMS

                           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  
          (SB 425, Torlakson, 2001).  After making findings and  
          declarations about the need for governmental oversight and  
          coordination, the board of supervisors 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).  After a  
          County report to the Assembly and Senate Judiciary  
          Committees cited improved outcomes from the additional  
          funding for domestic violence prevention oversight and  
          coordination activities, legislators made Contra Costa's  
          program permanent (SB 968, Torlakson, 2006).

          Legislators authorized similar pilot programs in Alameda  
          and Solano counties, allowing the counties to increase fees  
          for marriage licenses and certified copies of marriage  
          certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and  
          death records by up to $2 (AB 2010, Hancock, 2004).   
          Because the City of Berkeley runs its own domestic violence  
          programs and maintains birth certificates, fetal death, and  
          death records for city residents, it received a separate  
          authorization to increase vital records fees (AB 1712,  




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          Hancock, 2005).  Last year, legislation made the Alameda  
          County and Berkeley programs permanent (AB 73, Hayashi,  
          2009).  Legislators also extended the sunset date for  
          Solano County's pilot program and authorized a similar  
          pilot program in Sonoma County (SB 635, Wiggins, 2009).

          Stanislaus County currently charges $17 for birth  
          certificates, $14 for marriage certificates, and $12 for  
          death records.  Stanislaus County officials want the same  
          authority to raise fees on these vital records that  
          legislators granted to Alameda, Solano, and Sonoma  
          counties.
                                   Proposed Law  

          Assembly Bill 1770 authorizes the Stanislaus County Board  
          of Supervisors, upon making findings and declarations of  
          the need for governmental oversight and coordination of  
          domestic violence agencies, to increase fees for certified  
          copies of marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal  
          death records, and death records by up to $2.

          AB 1770 allows Stanislaus County supervisors to authorize  
          annually increase those fees by the increase in the  
          Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco metropolitan  
          area, rounded to the nearest half dollar.

          The bill requires the County to direct the local registrar,  
          county recorder, and county clerk to deposit those fees  
          into a special fund for governmental oversight and  
          coordination of a variety of domestic violence and family  
          violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts.  
           The County may retain up to 4% of the funds for  
          administrative costs.

          Applicants for a certified copy of a birth certificate,  
          fetal death record, or death record in Stanislaus County  
          must pay an additional fee to the local registrar, county  
          recorder, or county clerk, as established by the Board of  
          Supervisors.

          AB 1770 requires the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors  
          to report to the Legislature the annual amounts of funds  
          received and expended from fee increases and the outcomes  
          achieved.  A preliminary report must be submitted no later  
          than July 1, 2014.






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          The fee authority in AB 1770 automatically terminates on  
          January 1, 2016.


                                     Comments  

          1.   Expanding a successful program  .  Domestic violence has  
          widespread and costly effects in Stanislaus County.  The  
          rate of domestic violence calls in the County is 25% higher  
          than the state average.  Law enforcement agencies received  
          more than 3,000 domestic violence calls in 2009.  The  
          response to domestic violence involves a complex web of  
          groups, including law enforcement agencies, the courts,  
          social services agencies, and non-profit community  
          organizations.  Stanislaus County will soon open a Family  
          Justice Center, similar to those in other counties, to  
          provide multi-disciplinary support to domestic violence  
          victims.  By giving Stanislaus County the same fee  
          authority that other counties have used successfully, AB  
          1770 generates more money for the Stanislaus Family Justice  
          Center's oversight and coordination of domestic violence  
          prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts. 

          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 say 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 remains unclear  
          whether there is a sufficient relationship between charges  
          imposed on certified copies of vital records and the  
          coordination of domestic violence programs.  Do these  
          charges meet the standards for regulatory fees?  If the  
          merits of domestic violence programs are sufficiently  
          clear, counties should simply seek voter approval of taxes,  
          rather than imposing ambiguous charges that may attract  
          legal challenges.

          3.   Territorial issues  .  While not disputing the need to  
          reduce domestic violence, some opponents of AB 1770 argue  
          that the fees proposed by the bill are misplaced.  Child  





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          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 goes to trust funds for child abuse prevention.  
           Some advocates oppose adding birth certificate fees for  
          other purposes, reasoning that any new fees may keep them  
          from raising revenues for child abuse prevention in the  
          future.  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 a county recorder into the unwanted role of being a  
          revenue generator.  Even though there are precedents, the  
          Committee may wish to consider whether vital records fees  
          are the most appropriate revenue source for coordinating  
          domestic violence prevention.

          4.   Not identical  .  While the programs in Contra Costa,  
          Alameda, Solano, and Sonoma counties and the City of  
          Berkeley are all similar, they are not identical.  The  
          pilot program that AB 1770 authorizes in Stanislaus County  
          is also unique.  The following chart shows each  
          jurisdiction's fees for domestic violence prevention  
          programs:
                              Marriage                      Marriage   
                         Birth                                         
                                                                       
                                   Death               
           County/City                License     Certificate   Record   Record 
          Contra Costa             n/a       $4        $4   $4
          Alameda             $2        $2        $2   $2
          Berkeley            n/a       n/a       $2        $2
          Solano                   $2        $2        $2   $2
          Sonoma              $2        $2        n/a  $2
          Stanislaus (AB 1770)     n/a       $2        $2$2

          5.   Related legislation  .  At its June 16 hearing, the  
          Committee will hear AB 1338 (Evans, 2010), which allows all  
          counties to adopt pilot programs to provide governmental  
          oversight and coordination of domestic violence prevention,  
          intervention, and prosecution efforts and to fund  
          community-based nonprofits.  AB 2348 (Yamada, 2010), which  
          authorizes a similar domestic violence prevention program  
          in Yolo County, is in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.  SB  
          1222 (Wolk, 2010), which extends the Solano County  
          program's sunset date until 2014, is awaiting referral to a  
          committee in the Assembly.  In 2008, legislators passed AB  





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          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.  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.  

          6.   Special legislation  .  The California Constitution  
          prohibits special legislation when a general law can apply  
          (Article IV, 16).  AB 1770 contains findings and  
          declarations explaining the need for legislation that  
          applies only to Stanislaus County.

          7.   Double referral  .  The Senate Rules Committee has  
          ordered a double-referral of AB 1770 to the Senate  
          Judiciary Committee.


                                 Assembly Actions  

          Assembly Judiciary Committee:  7-3
          Assembly Floor:          46-26
           

                        Support and Opposition  (6/10/10)

           Support  :  Stanislaus County.

           Opposition  :  County Recorders Association of California,  
          Child Abuse Prevention Center.