BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1358 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 2, 2011 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair AB 1358 (Fuentes) - As Amended: April 15, 2011 SUBJECT : Vehicle Code violations: amnesty program SUMMARY : Authorizes any county to extend to misdemeanor Vehicle Code violations the one-time infraction amnesty program allowing a person who owes an outstanding fine to pay 50% of the fine. Specifically, this bill : 1)Allows a court and county, in addition to and at the same time as a mandatory one-time amnesty program that is established under existing law, to jointly agree to extend that amnesty program to fines and bail imposed for a misdemeanor violation of the Vehicle Code or for willfully violating a promise to appear in court, except for parking violations and violations involving reckless driving and driving-under-the-influence. 2)Allows a person owing a fine or bail who is eligible for amnesty under the program to pay to the superior or juvenile court 50% of the total fine or bail and provides that payment represents full satisfaction of the delinquent fine or bail. 3)Prohibits the use of the amnesty program by a person who has an outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrant within the county, except for misdemeanor warrants authorized by the participating court and county for specified misdemeanor Vehicle Code and Penal Code violations. 4)Requires a county participating in the amnesty program to file, not later than six months after the termination of the program, a written report with the Assembly Committee on Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Judiciary, summarizing the amount of money collected, operating costs of the program, distribution of funds collected, and when possible, how the funds were expended. EXISTING LAW : 1)Requires each county to establish a one-time infraction amnesty program for fines and bail providing relief to individuals who are financially unable to pay traffic bail or AB 1358 Page 2 fines with due dates prior to January 1, 2009. Payment of a fine or bail under these amnesty programs must be accepted beginning January 1, 2012, and ending June 30, 2012. 2)Requires the Judicial Council to adopt guidelines for the amnesty program no later than November 1, 2011, and each program to be conducted in accordance with Judicial Council guidelines. 3)Allows a person owing a fine or bail that is eligible for amnesty under this program to pay to the superior or juvenile court 50% of the total fine or bail, which must be accepted by the court in full satisfaction of the delinquent fine or bail. 4)Provides that violations are only eligible for amnesty only if the violation is an infraction, the due date for payment of the fine or bail was on or before January 1, 2009, the defendant does not owe victim restitution on any case within the county, and there are no outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrants for the defendant within the county. 5)Makes it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully violate his or her written promise to appear or a lawfully granted continuance of his or her promise to appear in court, regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he or she was originally arrested. 6)Provides that most violations of the Vehicle Code are infractions but treats a substantial number of violations as misdemeanors. Examples of Vehicle Code violations include: failure to obey an officer's lawful order, evading a peace officer, altering a vehicle identification number, driving without a valid driver's license, operating a schoolbus without the necessary license and endorsement, using a fraudulently obtained identification card, allowing an unlicensed driver to use one's vehicle, making an illegal left or U-turn on a divided highway, and engaging in speed contests. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : According to the author, "AB 1358 will provide counties with the flexibility to expand the amnesty program under Vehicle Code Section 42008.7 to include specified vehicle AB 1358 Page 3 code misdemeanors. The current amnesty program applies only to infractions. In the 1990s another amnesty program was implemented which included specified vehicle code misdemeanors. This bill does not mandate that counties include misdemeanors in their amnesty program, but rather enables them to include specified misdemeanors if they are so inclined." It is the practice of certain California counties to allow defendants to convert fines owed on criminal cases to time in custody. In some cases, courts will order defendants to be remanded to custody for failure to pay fines. This practice is costly and further impacts over-crowded jails. According to a 2009 study by performed by Pew Center for the States, California spends $134.83 per inmate per day, meaning that local jurisdictions are paying for the debt that is owed to them by paying more money to house inmates who are unable to pay. According to the California Public Defenders Association, "Traditionally, 80% of criminal defendants in California meet the indigency requirement of being represented by Public Defense Counsel. With the economic downturn, that percentage has increased. Accordingly, there are fines owed throughout the state that are uncollectable due to defendants' inability to pay. Further exacerbating this problem is the fact that many defendants have no other economic choice but to satisfy fines by serving jail time once a warrant has been issued, thereby increasing costs rather than capturing revenues. "This bill, will not only give defendants an incentive to pay fines owed, but will make it affordable for some to do so. In this way, there will be a short term infusion of money that would otherwise probably never be collected, and there would be a cost savings to the county because the cost of collection, apprehension, and incarceration will be reduced." Legislative history : SB 857 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Chapter 720, Statutes of 2010, established a mandatory one-time amnesty program for fines and bail meeting certain requirements in which the court would accept, in full satisfaction of any eligible fine or bail, 50% of the fine or bail amount, between January 1, 2012, and June 30, 2012. AB 3095 (Villaraigosa), Chapter 742, Section 1, Statutes of 1996, authorized any county to operate an amnesty program for delinquent fines and bail imposed for an infraction or misdemeanor Vehicle Code violation, except parking and other AB 1358 Page 4 specified violations that were delinquent on or before April 1, 1991. AB 3095 allowed any person owing a fine or bail who was eligible for amnesty under the program to pay to the municipal or juvenile court either 70% of the total fine or bail amount, $100 for an infraction, or $500 for a misdemeanor. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : Support California Public Defenders Association (sponsor) Legal Services for Prisoners with Children Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093