BILL ANALYSIS
SB 556
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Date of Hearing: June 23, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
SB 556 (Committee on Judiciary) - As Amended: May 28, 2009
As Proposed to be Amended
SENATE VOTE : 37-0
SUBJECT: COURT OPERATIONS
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD MINOR TECHNICAL CHANGES BE MADE TO COURT
OPERATIONS TO IMPROVE THE FUNCTIONING OF THE JUDICIARY?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This non-controversial technical bill, sponsored by the Judicial
Council, makes four technical and clarifying changes to improve
court operations. These minor changes assure that (1) small
claims courts can collect post-judgment fees; (2) unpaid bail
amounts may be referred to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) for
collection services; (3) unclaimed victim restitution funds will
not just accumulate at the court level, but may, after three
years, be used to provide needed services to crime victims; and
(4) in appropriate cases where no harm will be caused, courts
can seek reimbursement for the costs of investigating property
transactions involving an incapacitated spouse. There is no
known opposition to this bill.
SUMMARY : Makes several clarifications with respect to court
operations. Specifically, this bill :
1)Clarifies that the clerk of the court must charge and collect
all small claims fees for enforcement of judgments, as
provided.
2)Provides that victim reinstitution funds held by a superior
court that remain unclaimed for three years must be
transferred to the State Restitution Fund.
3)When court approval is sought to authorize a proposed
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transaction involving community property where one or both
spouses lack legal capacity, limits the authority of the court
to appoint a court investigator to review the proposed
transaction to only when such appointment is necessary.
Authorizes the court to order the cost of the review and
report by the investigator to be paid for out of the proceeds
of the transaction or otherwise as the court may direct, if
the court determines that such payment would not cause a
hardship.
4)Adds bail to the list of unpaid debt permitted to be referred
to the FTB for collection.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides that a small claims court judgment may be enforced as
provided in the Enforcement of Judgments Law, which applies to
all civil judgments, as specified. Requires the clerk to
collect specified small claims fees. (Code of Civil Procedure
Section 116.820.)
2)Provides that money deposited with the court that remains
unclaimed for three years becomes the property of superior
court, if, after required published notice, the money remains
unclaimed. (Government Code Section 68084.1.)
3)Establishes a procedure by which a court may authorize a
proposed transaction involving community property where one or
both spouses lack legal capacity. Requires a conservator
served pursuant to specified provisions to appear at a hearing
and represent a spouse alleged to lack legal capacity for the
proposed transaction. Authorizes the court, in its
discretion, to appoint an investigator to review the proposed
transaction and report to the court regarding its
advisability. (Probate Code Section 3140.)
4)Provides that fines, state or local penalties, forfeitures,
restitution orders, or any other amounts imposed by a superior
court upon a person or any other entity that are due and
payable in an amount totaling no less than $100, in the
aggregate, for criminal offenses, may, no sooner than 90 days
after payment of that amount becomes delinquent, be referred
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by the court, the county, or the state to the FTB for
collection. (Revenue and Taxation Code Section 19280.)
COMMENTS : This non-controversial bill, sponsored by the
Judicial Council, makes four technical and clarifying changes to
improve court operations.
Clarification of Small Claims Court Fees : The Small Claims Act
states that judgments may be enforced like all other judgments,
but then specifies that the court may collect fees for issuance
of a writ of execution, abstract of judgment, and application
for an order of examination of a judgment debtor. Other
post-judgment enforcement proceedings, such as a claim of
exemption for which fees are charged statewide in general civil
actions, are not specifically mentioned for small claims
proceedings. As a result of this ambiguity, court practices
regarding small claims fees diverge across the state. This bill
clarifies that courts should charge small claims litigants all
fees associated with the enforcement of judgments, as is done in
general civil actions. This clarification will ensure
uniformity across the state.
The identical post-judgment fee provision was included in AB
1873 (Lieu, 2008), which was vetoed for other reasons.
Unclaimed Victim Restitution Funds : Today courts may escheat to
themselves unclaimed funds that the courts have been holding for
three years. Before any such escheatment can occur, the court
must follow a notice and claims procedure to allow the legal
owner of the deposit to come forward and claim the money.
However, current law specifically exempts victim restitution
funds from the escheatment provision. As a result, unclaimed
victim restitution funds simply accumulate at the courts and do
not serve anyone's interests.
This bill requires that after three years, unclaimed victim
restitution funds be forwarded to the State Restitution Fund,
which serves the needs of crime victims. In order to ensure
that unclaimed victim restitution funds are truly unclaimed, the
author has appropriately agreed to amend the bill to require
courts to follow existing notice and claim procedures before
money may be transferred to the State Restitution Funds. This
allows the victim time and notice to come forward and claim his
or her money. The following amendment makes that change:
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On page 3, line 34, after "Fund" insert:
if, after published notice pursuant to this section, the money
is not claimed or no verified complaint is filed and served.
Recovery of Court Investigator Costs : When one or both spouses
lack legal capacity, a court may still authorize a transaction
involving community property. In this case, the court may, in
its discretion, appoint an investigator to review the proposed
transaction and report to the court regarding its advisability.
This bill provides that a court may only appoint an investigator
when the court deems that such an investigation is necessary.
The bill also allows the court to order the cost of the review
and report by the investigator to be paid out of the proceeds of
the transaction or otherwise as the court may direct. However,
in order to ensure that the spouses will not be harmed by such
charges, the bill rightly provides that the court may only order
the payment if the court determines that the payment would not
cause a hardship to anyone.
Collection of Unpaid Bail : To assist in the collection of
court-ordered debt, the courts use two Franchise Tax Board (FTB)
collection programs use: The Tax Intercept Program collects
debt by intercepting state tax refunds and the Court-Ordered
Debt Program collects debt by sweeping bank accounts and lottery
winnings. Under current law, courts have explicit authority to
seek collection of unpaid bail amounts through the Tax Intercept
Program, but there is no such explicitly authority to use the
Court-Ordered Debt Program to collect unpaid bail. There does
not appear to be any reason for this disparate treatment. This
bill explicitly authorizes the courts to send unpaid bail
amounts to either FTB collection program.
AB 1389 (Committee on Budget, Chap. 751, Stats. 2008) explicitly
authorized the courts to send unpaid bail amounts to either FTB
collection program. AB 1389 was enacted into law, but it was
inadvertently chaptered out by the subsequent enactment of AB
2928 (Spitzer, Chap. 752, Stats. 2008). Since AB 1389 was an
urgency statute that took effect immediately upon the Governor's
signature and AB 2928 did not take effect until January 1, 2009,
the FTB collection clarification was in effect from September 30
to December 31, 2008. This bill would fix the inadvertent
chaptering out.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
SB 556
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Support
Judicial Council (sponsor)
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334