BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 1358 (Fuentes)
Hearing Date: 08/25/2011 Amended: 05/16/2011
Consultant: Jolie Onodera Policy Vote: Public Safety 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 1358 would authorize a county to extend the
existing amnesty program for Vehicle Code infractions to
misdemeanor Vehicle Code violations and failure to appear,
allowing a person who owes an outstanding fine to pay 50 percent
of the fine, except as specified. This bill prohibits the use of
the amnesty program for parking violations, specified reckless
driving offenses, 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 violations.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Expanded amnesty program Unknown; potentially
significant Loc/Gen/Spec*
one-time revenue increase in the millions
of dollars as well as significant
foregone
revenue to the extent full fines are
forgiven and uncollected
*Various Special Funds, Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Existing law requires each county to establish a one-time
amnesty program for Vehicle Code infractions for fines and bail
providing relief to individuals who are financially unable to
pay traffic bail or fines with due dates prior to January 1,
2009, thereby allowing courts and counties to resolve older
delinquent cases and focus limited resources on collecting more
recent cases. Fifty percent of the fine or bail will be accepted
AB 1358 (Fuentes)
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in full satisfaction of an outstanding fine or bail under the
amnesty program. Payment of a fine or bail under the amnesty
program shall be accepted beginning January 1, 2012, and ending
June 30, 2012.
This bill would authorize a county to extend the amnesty program
to include Vehicle Code misdemeanor failures to appear, with
exceptions, or failures to pay or appear related to an
underlying infraction. Violations under the expanded program are
only eligible for amnesty if all of the following requirements
are met: 1) the due date for payment of the fine or bail was on
or before January 1, 2009; 2) the defendant does not owe victim
restitution on any case within the county; and, 3) there are no
outstanding misdemeanor or felony warrants for the defendant
within the county, except for misdemeanor warrants for
misdemeanor violations authorized by the court and the county,
as specified. This bill also prohibits the use of the amnesty
program for parking violations, specified reckless driving
violations, and DUI offenses.
Under existing law, a person willfully violating his or her
written promise to appear in court or failing to pay bail or a
fine as authorized by the court is guilty of a misdemeanor
regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he or she
was originally arrested. Although the expansion of the amnesty
program is optional, and it is unknown how many courts and
counties will participate, by expanding the program for
infractions to include misdemeanor violations for failure to pay
or appear related to an underlying infraction is likely to
significantly increase participation in the program.
California's outstanding debt, pursuant to court orders, is
currently estimated at $7 billion, which includes unpaid civil,
family, and criminal fees, fines, and penalties. To the extent
counties choose to operate this extended program would result in
the collection of outstanding debt that may not have otherwise
been collected and could result in one-time increased revenue of
an unknown, but potentially significant amount in the millions
of dollars. Given the substantial amount of outstanding debt,
there would also be an unknown but potentially significant
amount of foregone revenue to the extent full fines are forgiven
and uncollected.
To the extent the six-month amnesty program allows courts and
AB 1358 (Fuentes)
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counties to resolve older delinquent cases and focus limited
resources on collecting more recent cases could also result in
increased revenue collections on more current outstanding debt.
In addition to increased revenues, local law enforcement may
incur cost savings to the extent fewer outstanding warrants for
failure to pay or appear will need to be pursued. Further,
county jails may experience cost savings to the extent fewer
individuals serve jail time for failure to pay as a means of
paying off outstanding debt.
Guidelines for the existing infraction amnesty program are to be
adopted no later than November 1, 2011. The Judicial Council has
indicated no additional costs are anticipated for adding
guidelines that would apply to the optional program.
Prior Legislation. SB 857 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal
Review) 2010 established a one-time amnesty program for fines
and bail meeting certain requirements to accept 50 percent of
the fine/bail amount as payment in full, for the period January
1, 2012, through June 30, 2012.
AB 3095 (Villaraigosa) 1996 authorized any county to operate an
amnesty program for delinquent fines and bail imposed for an
infraction or specified misdemeanor Vehicle Code violation that
was delinquent before April 1, 1991.