BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1358
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1358 (Fuentes) - As Amended: April 15, 2011
Policy Committee: Public
SafetyVote: 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Authorizes a county to extend the existing amnesty program for
Vehicle Code infractions (with payment due dates prior to Jan.
1, 2009), to misdemeanor Vehicle Code violations and failure
to appear, allowing a person who owes an outstanding fine to
pay 50% of the fine, except as specified.
2)This bill prohibits the use of the amnesty program for parking
violations and specified reckless driving and DUI offenses,
and for anyone with 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.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown one-time state and local revenue increase to the
extent counties choose to operate the program, and to the
extent the program is successful in collecting.
2)Unknown minor offsetting revenue loss to the extent full fines
are forgiven and therefore uncollected. Given the difficulty
collecting delinquent fines, however, any revenue loss would
be minimal.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author's intent is to provide counties the
flexibility to expand the existing amnesty program to include
AB 1358
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specified vehicle code misdemeanors in order to provide
persons struggling financially an opportunity to come clean
and get back on track, and to recoup at least a portion of the
original fine.
The author references a similar amnesty program implemented in
1997 (AB 3095, Villaraigosa), which included specified vehicle
code misdemeanors.
2)Support . 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."
3)Prior Legislation :
a) SB 857 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review), Statutes
of 2010, established a mandatory one-time amnesty program
for fines and bail meeting certain requirements to accept,
for full relief, 50% of the fine or bail amount, between
January 1, 2012, and June 30, 2012.
b) AB 3095 (Villaraigosa), 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 specified
violations that were delinquent on or before April 1, 1991.
AB 3095 allowed any person owing a fine or bail who is
eligible for amnesty under the program to pay either 70% of
the total fine or bail amount, $100 for an infraction, or
$500 for a misdemeanor.
AB 1358
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4)The author has technical drafting amendments .
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081