BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 556|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 556
Author: Senate Judiciary Committee
Amended: 4/15/09
Vote: 27
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 0/31/09
AYES: Corbett, Harman, Florez, Leno, Walters
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Court operations: Post-judgment fees, unpaid
bail, victim
compensation
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the clerk of the court in a
small claims court judgment to charge and collect all fees
associated with the enforcement of judgments under the
Enforcement of Judgments Law.
This bill provides that bail is included among the unpaid
court-ordered fines and penalties that the court may refer
to the Franchise Tax Board for collection after 90 days of
delinquency.
This bill makes changes to existing law regulating
unclaimed money in the Victims Compensation Fund.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that the judgment of a
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small claims court may be enforced as provided for the
enforcement of judgments of other courts. Existing law
requires the clerk of the small claims court to charge and
collect specified fees for the issuance of a writ of
execution or an abstract of judgment, and for an
application for an order of examination of a judgment
order.
This bill requires the clerk of the small claims court to
charge and collect all fees associated with the enforcement
of small claims court judgments, including, among other
things, statutory fees for preparing and issuing, and
recording and indexing, an abstract of judgment or a
certified copy of a judgment, statutory fees for filing a
notice of judgment lien on personal property, and statutory
fees for issuing a writ for the enforcement of the
judgment, as specified.
Existing law provides that any money in a court bank
account or in a court trust account in a county treasury
that remains unclaimed for three years shall become the
property of the superior court if, after published notice,
the money is not claimed or no verified complaint is filed
and served. Existing law provides that if a claim is filed
and rejected, or no action is taken on it, the party who
submitted the claim may file a verified complaint seeking
to recover all, or a specified part, of the money.
Existing law establishes the State Restitution Fund, which
is continuously appropriated for indemnifying victims of
crime.
This bill provides that money representing restitution
collected on behalf of victims that remains unclaimed for
three years shall be deposited into the State Restitution
Fund. By depositing monies into the State Restitution Fund
this bill makes an appropriation.
Existing law provides that delinquent fines, state or local
penalties, forfeitures, restitution fines and orders, and
any other amounts imposed by a superior court upon a person
or entity for criminal offenses, that total at least $100
in the aggregate, may be referred by the court, county, or
state to the Franchise Tax Board for collection pursuant to
this provision.
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 4/16/09)
Judicial Council of California (source)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : the sponsor, the Judicial Council
of California (JC), writes:
" Post-judgment fees clarification
"The Small Claims Act does not identify a fee for a variety
of post-judgment motions, including a motion opposing a
claim of exemption or a motion to 'reset' or continue
examination of a judgment debtor, which occur routinely in
the enforcement of a small claims judgment. Since such
motions are similar to motions for the enforcement of any
other civil judgments, the fee for such a motion in a
general devil case would also be the appropriate fee to be
charged in small claims cases. As a result of the lack of
clarity in the statute, practices differ from court to
court. SB 556 would clarify that a court is authorized to
charge the same fees for post-judgment motions related to
the enforcement of a small claims judgment as a court
charges for the enforcement of a regular civil judgment
under [the EJL]. Senate Bill 556 would bring uniformity to
court practices across all small claims courts.
"Collection of unpaid bail amounts
"There are two Franchise Tax Board (FTB) programs courts
use to assist in the collection of court-ordered debt.
The FTB's Tax Intercept Program (FTB-TIP) collects debt by
sweeping state refunds. The FTB's Court-Ordered Debt
Program (FTB-COD) collects debt by sweeping bank accounts
and lottery winnings. Currently, although courts have
explicit statutory authority to send unpaid bail amounts to
the FTB-TIP, the statute is silent regarding whether courts
may send similar amounts to the FTB-COD. [While] courts
have explicit statutory authority to send unpaid bail
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amounts to the FTB-TIP, the statute is silent regarding
whether the courts may send similar amounts to the FTB-COD.
There is no apparent basis (either in legislative history
or court practice) for allowing certain debts to be
collected by FTB-TIP, but not FTB-COD. Most courts
currently refer failure-to-appear (FTA) cases to either
FTB-TIP or FTB-COD, and the amount owed as bail is
collected by either program.
"Recently, however, some courts have been concerned that
they might not have the statutory authority to send FTA
cases to the FTB-COD. This bill would explicitly authorize
the courts to send unpaid bail amounts to either FTB
program for collection."
RJG:cm 4/21/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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