BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 412
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 18, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 412 (Williams) - As Amended: April 28, 2011
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:9-0
Health Vote: 15-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill enacts, for the County of Santa Barbara only, a
penalty of $5 for every $10 in base fines imposed on criminal
offenses and certain vehicle code offenses, to be used for the
county Maddy Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fund. The
assessment is conditioned on adoption of a resolution by the
Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors (Board).
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Revenue to Santa Barbara County of approximately $700,000
annually from penalty assessments, upon Board approval.
2)Increasing assessments may result in diminishing returns to
existing assessments. As current penalty assessments quadruple
the base fine, increasing fines and assessments may have the
unintended consequence of reduced fine collections. Judges may
reduce base fines or indigent defendants facing
ever-increasing fees may simply choose to spend time in jail
in lieu of paying the fine, causing taxpayers to pay the jail
costs while state and local government receive fewer penalty
funds.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author, this bill is necessary to
AB 412
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reenact the authorization for Santa Barbara County to impose
additional penalty assessments to provide funding to the Maddy
EMS Fund. The author states that at the time of the enactment
of the penalty assessment intended as the Maddy EMS Fund,
Santa Barbara did not have a trauma center and elected to use
the funding for the aging court system. The author further
argues that counties do not have the authority to raise
penalty assessments at the local level and it is necessary to
ask the state for such authority.
2)Penalty Assessments . In California, penalties for criminal
offenders may include fines or penalty assessments. The state
now has over 269 dedicated funding streams for court fines,
fees, forfeitures, surcharges and penalty assessments that may
be levied on offenders and violators. State and county penalty
assessment funds are generated by a basic penalty assessment
rate of $10 for every $10 in base fines, doubling the amount
the court can levy on the offender. The court levies an
additional assessment rate of $7 for every $10 in base fines
to support county activities. Most counties use a portion of
this revenue to fund uncompensated emergency care through a
Maddy EMS Fund.
3)Santa Barbara County . The Santa Barbara County Board of
Supervisors allocated all county penalty assessment revenue to
construction of court and criminal justice facilities,
including issuing bonds for this purpose, with the debt
serviced by penalty assessment revenue until 2021. In 2004,
the Legislature granted authority to increase penalty
assessments in Santa Barbara County only for the purposes of
establishing a Maddy EMS Fund, with the intent that the
assessment would sunset in 2007 and a permanent local funding
source would be secured. Through subsequent legislation, the
sunset was extended again until 2009, and again until January
1, 2011. This bill would reenact the Santa Barbara
County-specific penalty assessment and make it permanent.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081