BILL ANALYSIS SB 432 Page 1 Date of Hearing: June 23, 2009 Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY Juan Arambula, Chair SB 432 (Runner) - As Amended: May 21, 2009 SUMMARY : Authorizes a county probation department, when restitution has been ordered, to provide the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) a copy of the restitution order and victim contact information. Specifically, this bill provides that whenever a person is committed to an institution under the jurisdiction of the CDCR and the court has ordered the person top pay restitution to a victim the following shall apply: 1)If the victim consents, the probation officer of the county from which the person is committed may send to the CDCR the victim's contact information and a copy of the restitution order for the purpose of distributing the restitution collected on behalf of the victim. 2)The contact information shall remain confidential and shall not be made part of the court file or combined with any public document. EXISTING LAW : 1)States it is the unequivocal intention of the People of the State of California that all persons who suffer losses as a result of criminal activity shall have the right to restitution from the persons convicted of the crimes for losses they suffer. Restitution shall be ordered from the convicted persons in every case, regardless of the sentence or disposition imposed, in which a crime victim suffers a loss, unless compelling and extraordinary reasons exist to the contrary. The Legislature shall adopt provisions to implement this section during the calendar year following adoption of this section. [California Constitution Article 1 Section 28(b).] 2)States legislative intent that a victim of crime who incurs SB 432 Page 2 any economic loss as a result of the commission of a crime shall receive restitution directly from any defendant convicted of that crime. [Penal Code Section 1202.4(a)(1).] 3)States that in any case in which a prisoner owes a restitution fine or order imposed, as specified, the CDCR Director shall deduct a minimum of 20% or the balance owing on the fine amount, whichever is less, up to a maximum of 50% from the wages and trust account deposits of a prisoner, unless prohibited by federal law, and shall transfer that amount to the California Victims Compensation and Government Claims Board (CVDGCB) for deposit in the Restitution Fund in the State Treasury. Any amount so deducted shall be credited against the amount owing on the fine. The sentencing court shall be provided a record of the payments. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(a) and (b).] 4)Allows the Director of the Board of Corrections (BOC) to withhold an administrative fee from the offender's earnings to be held in a special deposit account for the purposes of reimbursing administrative and support costs of the restitution program. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(c).] 5)States that in any case in which a parolee owes a restitution fine imposed pursuant to law, the CDCR Director may collect from the parolee any moneys owing on the restitution fine amount unless prohibited by federal law. The CDCR Director shall transfer that amount to the CVCGCB for deposit in the Restitution Fund in the State Treasury. Any amount so deducted shall be credited against the amount owing on the fine. The sentencing court shall be provided a record of the payments. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(d).] 6)States that in any case in which a parolee owes a direct order of restitution, imposed pursuant to law, the CDCR Director may collect from the parolee any moneys owing unless prohibited by federal law. If the restitution is owed to a person who has filed an application with the Victim Compensation Program, the CDCR Director shall transfer that amount to the CVCGCB for direct payment to the victim or payment shall be made to the Restitution Fund to the extent that the victim has received assistance pursuant to that program. No deductions shall be made on behalf of victims who have not filed an application with the Victim Compensation Program. The sentencing court shall be provided a record of the payments made by the SB 432 Page 3 offender pursuant to this subdivision. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(e).] 7)Provides that the CDCR Director may deduct and retain from any moneys collected from parolees an administrative fee that totals 10% of any amount transferred to the CVCGCB pursuant to law unless prohibited by federal law. The CDCR Director shall deduct and retain from any settlement or trial award of a parolee an administrative fee that totals 5% of any amount paid from the settlement or award to satisfy an outstanding restitution order or fine pursuant to law, unless prohibited by federal law. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(f).] 8)States that when a prisoner or a parolee has both a restitution fine and a restitution order from the sentencing court, the CDCR shall collect the restitution order first. [Penal Code Sections 2085.5(g).] 9)States that any compensatory or punitive damages awarded by trial or settlement to any inmate or parolee in connection with a civil action brought against any federal, state, or local jail, prison; correctional facility; or any official or agent thereof, shall be paid directly, after payment of reasonable attorney's fees and litigation costs approved by the court, to satisfy any outstanding restitution orders or restitution fines against that person. The balance of any award shall be forwarded to the payee after full payment of all outstanding restitution orders and restitution fines. The CDCR shall make all reasonable efforts to notify the victims of the crime for which that person was convicted concerning the pending payment of any compensatory or punitive damages. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(j)] 10)States that in any case in which a victim cannot be located, the restitution revenues received by the CVCGCB on behalf of the victim shall be held in trust in the Restitution Fund until the end of the state fiscal year subsequent to the state fiscal year in which the funds were deposited or until the time that the victim has provided current address information, whichever occurs sooner. Amounts remaining in trust at the end of the specified period of time shall revert to the Restitution Fund. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(k)(2).] 11)States that any victim failing to provide a current address within the period of time specified in existing law may SB 432 Page 4 provide documentation to the CDCR, which in turn shall verify that moneys were in fact collected on behalf of the victim. Upon receipt of that verified information from the CDCR, the CVCGCB shall transmit the restitution revenues to the victim in accordance with the provisions of law. [Penal Code Section 2085.5(k)(3).] FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : 1)Author's Statement : According to author, "SB 432 would authorize all 58 counties to release enough victim information to allow the CDCR, Office of Victims and Survivor Rights and Services (OVSS) to disperse the restitution that has been collected on behalf of the victim's direct order of restitution. The CVCGCB currently has $6.5 million in trust in undistributed direct order collections. "CVCGCB is the state agency responsible for administering the Victims Restitution Fund. The restitution fund is for victims of violent crimes who suffer out-of-pocket losses and who may be eligible to apply for financial reimbursement. The fund reimburses eligible victims for lost wages or support, medical or psychological counseling expenses, and other related costs. "As of July 2008, CDCR has approximately 250,000 inmates and parolees with obligations for restitution over $100. There are approximately 33,000 current inmates and parolees who owe direct orders. The sum of the balance due for these offenders is approximately $1.1 billion. "There are approximately 100,000 unknown victims with direct orders of restitution that CDCR is unable to locate. "Prior to 2007, any undisbursed collected restitution funds were almost nonexistent. OVSS was able to distribute about 97% of all direct order collections immediately upon collection because when an offender was ordered to pay a victim under a direct order of restitution, the law further required the victim to file a claim with the state before CDCR was empowered to collect on the victim's behalf. However, many victims were unclear on how file a claim or did not know that they were required to file a claim in order to receive SB 432 Page 5 restitution funds. Victims also assumed that once the order was written by the court, awarding restitution to them, that the money would be automatically mailed to them. "The requirement to file a claim became very unpopular with both judges and victims. As a result, CDCR sponsored AB 1505, which authorized (effective January 1, 2007) CDCR to collect on all direct orders without the victim claim filing requirement. This caused direct order collections to jump immediately from $40,000 monthly to $400,000. "However, as collections rose, the percentage which could be distributed (where victim information was known) dropped from 97% to 22%. CDCR is accumulating $3.5 million annually that cannot be disbursed due to the lack of victim contact information. "As of October 2008, there was $6.5 million in undisbursed direct order collections from CDCR being held in trust at the CVCGCB." 2)Prior Legislation : AB 1505 (La Suer), Chapter 555, Statutes of 2006, authorized CDCR to collect restitution on behalf of a victim, and allowed a victim to collect restitution without filing a claim with the CVCGCB. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support California Coalition Against Sexual Assault California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Crime Victims United of California Los Angeles District Attorneys' Office Opposition None Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744