BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2767
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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 2767 (Feuer) 
          As Amended  May 13, 2010
          Majority vote 

           JUDICIARY           10-0        APPROPRIATIONS      15-0        
           
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          |Ayes:|Feuer, Tran, Brownley,    |Ayes:|Fuentes, Conway, Ammiano, |
          |     |Hill, Hagman, Huffman,    |     |Coto, Davis, Bonnie       |
          |     |Knight, Skinner, Monning, |     |Lowenthal, Hall, Harkey,  |
          |     |Nava                      |     |Miller, Nielsen, Norby,   |
          |     |                          |     |Skinner, Solorio,         |
          |     |                          |     |Torlakson, Hill           |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Makes several non-controversial and clarifying changes  
          to the codes.  Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Corrects a drafting error in AB 1046 (Anderson), Chapter 499,  
            Statutes of 2009, that specifies the wrong date on which the  
            Judicial Council is first required to submit to the  
            Legislature (and then every three years thereafter) the amount  
            by which the dollar amounts of homestead exemptions in effect  
            immediately before that date may be increased, and take effect  
            if subsequently approved by the Legislature.

          2)Requires any money representing restitution collected on  
            behalf of victims that remains unclaimed for three years, even  
            after published notice has been made, to be deposited either  
            into the State Restitution Fund exclusively for the purposes  
            of providing victim services or into the general fund of a  
            county that administers a victim services program exclusively  
            for the provision of victim services.

          3)Revises and updates code references made obsolete by trial  
            court restructuring, in addition to making several technical  
            revisions also relating to trial court restructuring.  These  
            provisions address subjects such as municipal court marshals,  
            municipal court bank accounts, interest on deposits of bail,  
            and compensation of court appointed experts, interpreters and  
            translators.  

          4)Clarifies that "inspection" of confidential paternity files by  








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            parties and, with written consent, their attorneys and agents  
            of attorneys, includes both inspection  and copying  of the  
            files, as provided.

          5)Corrects a drafting error in AB 1233 (Silva), Chapter 631,  
            Statutes of 2009, that caused the inadvertent yet significant  
            omission of the word "not" from provisions intended to  
            prohibit the secretary, treasurer, or chief financial officer  
            of a nonprofit religious corporation from serving concurrently  
            as the president or chair of the board of the corporation.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          analysis, these technical and clarifying changes will have no  
          significant fiscal impact on the courts.

           COMMENTS  :  This non-controversial committee bill is the Assembly  
          Judiciary Committee's omnibus civil law bill.  In order to be  
          included in the bill, each provision must be non-controversial  
          and not so substantive as to be more appropriate for a  
          stand-alone bill.  Furthermore, if a non-controversial provision  
          later becomes controversial, that provision will be removed from  
          the bill.

          This bill would correct a drafting error contained in AB 1046 a  
          bill passed by this Committee on consent last year.  AB 1046  
          currently requires the Judicial Council to submit to the  
          Legislature the dollar amounts for the first potential increase  
          in the homestead exemption amounts on April 1, 2010, and then  
          every three years thereafter.  However, AB 1046 only became  
          effective on January 1, 2010, which is the same date that the  
          new increases to the homestead exemption mandated in the bill  
          took effect.  According to the author of AB 1046, the underlying  
          legislative scheme was not designed to require the Judicial  
          Council to conduct a review of the homestead exemption amounts  
          and report to the Legislature regarding these amounts just three  
          months after the new increases in this exemption became law, and  
          that the current requirement is simply the result of a drafting  
          error.  Instead, AB 1046 should have specified the correct date  
          of April 1, 2013.  This bill would fix that error and avoid the  
          need for the Judicial Council to submit an unnecessary report to  
          the Legislature.

          This bill would require courts to deposit any unclaimed victim  
          restitution money that they have been holding for a minimum of  
          three years into either the State Restitution Fund or into the  








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          county general fund to be used by a local agency for purposes of  
          victim services.  Due to a drafting oversight, superior courts  
          lack the necessary clarity to process unclaimed victim  
          restitution, and in many cases, this results in money being  
          unavailable for any purpose. This bill would clarify statute and  
          provide superior courts with the necessary direction to process  
          unclaimed victim restitution.

          This bill would revise and update code references made obsolete  
          by trial court restructuring, in addition to making several  
          technical revisions relating to trial court restructuring.   
          Specifically, this bill amends Code of Civil Procedure Sections  
          1085 and 1103; Evidence Code Section 731; Government Code  
          Sections 53647.5, 53679, 68092, and 71601; Penal Code Section  
          13510; and, relocates an existing provision to new Government  
          Code Section 27473.  These code sections address subjects such  
          as municipal court marshals, municipal court bank accounts,  
          interest on deposits of bail, and compensation of court  
          appointed experts, interpreters and translators, among other  
          things.  The California Law Revision Commission (CLRC) proposes  
          these revisions in response to legislative directive to remove  
          and clarify statutes made obsolete by trial court restructuring.  
           The author contends that these revisions will help prevent  
          confusion and disputes, potentially reduce litigation expenses,  
          and conserve judicial resources.

          The Legislature passed AB 1679 (Evans), Chapter 50, Statutes of  
          2008, to amend Family Code Section 7643 to permit inspection of  
          confidential paternity files by parties to the action, their  
          attorneys, and with written consent, agents of the attorneys.   
          The legislative history of AB 1679, as evidenced by the bill's  
          background sheet and the sponsor's testimony in committee,  
          reveals that the amendment was intended to permit inspection  and  
          copying  of the files.  However, there are reports that some  
          court clerks have interpreted the word "inspection" literally  
          and are allowing attorneys, attorney services or authorized  
          persons only to "inspect" the paternity files, but not to copy  
          the file for later reference.  This bill would simply clarify  
          that both inspection and copying of paternity files are  
          permitted, as provided by Family Code Section 7643.

          This bill would enact a technical correction needed due to a  
          drafting error in AB 1233 that produces an unwanted and  
          inappropriate change in the law.  AB 1233 amended Corporations  
          Code Sections 5213 (pertaining to nonprofit public benefit  








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          corporations) and 9213 (pertaining to nonprofit religious  
          corporations.)  Both sections previously stated, "neither the  
          secretary nor the chief financial officer may serve concurrently  
          as the president or chairman of the board."  As amended by AB  
          1233, Corporations Code Section 5213 correctly stated, "the  
          secretary, the treasurer, or the chief financial officer may  not   
          serve concurrently as the president or chair of the board."  
          (emphasis added.)  An identical change was supposed to be made  
          to Corporations Code Section 9213, but the word "not" was  
          accidentally left out due to a drafting error.  This bill would  
          fix the inadvertent omission of the word "not" from Section 9213  
          and restore consistency and logic to the statute.


           Analysis Prepared by  :   Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 


                                                               FN: 0004333