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
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            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 








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          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 








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          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