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 _________________________________________________________________ ____ 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. _________________________________________________________________ ____ 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 _________________________________________________________________ ____ 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) Page 1 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) Page 2 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.