BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1657 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1657 (Wieckowski) As Amended March 22, 2012 Majority vote PUBLIC SAFETY 4-2 HEALTH 10-6 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Ammiano, Cedillo, |Ayes:|Monning, Ammiano, Eng, | | |Mitchell, Skinner | |Gordon, Hayashi, Roger | | | | |Hernández, Mitchell, Pan, | | | | |V. Manuel Pérez, Williams | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Knight, Hagman |Nays:|Logue, Bonilla, Garrick, | | | | |Mansoor, Nestande, Silva | ----------------------------------------------------------------- APPROPRIATIONS 12-5 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, | | | | |Bradford, Charles | | | | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, | | | | |Gatto, Ammiano, Hill, | | | | |Lara, Mitchell, Solorio | | | | | | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, | | | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Adds an additional penalty assessment of $1 to every fine, penalty or forfeiture deposit imposed by any court on violations of specified Vehicle Code sections or local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. Specifically, this bill : 1)Requires these assessments be deposited with the county treasurer and distributed each month to the spinal cord injury research fund created within the University of California. 2)Allows the University of California to establish the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research Penalty Account. AB 1657 Page 2 3)Allows the county treasurer to withhold sufficient funds to reimburse the county and the courts for their actual, reasonable, and necessary costs in administering this assessment. If funds are withheld, an accounting report must be sent to the Regents of the University of California. EXISTING LAW : 1)Authorizes the University of California to establish a spinal cord injury research fund independent of the State Treasury, to accept public and private funds for the purpose of implementing this chapter. 2)States that there shall be levied a state penalty in the amount of $10 for every $10, or part of $10, upon every fine, penalty, or forfeiture imposed and collected by the courts for all criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. a) Provides any bail schedule may include the necessary amount to pay the penalties established by this section, and the surcharge for all matters where a personal appearance is not mandatory and the bail is posted primarily to guarantee payment of the fine. b) States that the penalty imposed by this section does not apply to the following: i) Any restitution fine; ii) Specified Government Code penalties; iii) Specified parking offenses; and, iv) A specified state surcharge. 3)Specifies where multiple offenses are involved, the state penalty shall be based upon the total fine or bail for each case. When a fine is suspended, in whole or in part, the state penalty shall be reduced in proportion to the suspension. AB 1657 Page 3 4)States when any deposited bail is made for an offense to which this section applies, and for which a court appearance is not mandatory, the person making the deposit shall also deposit a sufficient amount to include the state penalty prescribed by this section for forfeited bail. If bail is returned, the state penalty paid thereon pursuant to this section shall also be returned. 5)Provides that in any case where a person convicted of any offense, to which this section applies, is in prison until the fine is satisfied, the judge may waive all or any part of the state penalty, the payment of which would work a hardship on the person convicted or his or her immediate family. 6)States that the moneys so deposited in the State Penalty Fund shall be distributed as follows: a) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Fish and Game Preservation Fund an amount equal to 0.33% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month, except that the total amount shall not be less than the state penalty levied on fines or forfeitures for violation of state laws relating to the protection or propagation of fish and game. These moneys shall be used for the education or training of department employees which fulfills a need consistent with the objectives of the Department of Fish and Game. b) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Restitution Fund an amount equal to 32.02% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. c) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Peace Officers' Training Fund an amount equal to 23.99% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. d) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund an amount equal to 25.7% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. e) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the AB 1657 Page 4 Corrections Training Fund an amount equal to 7.88% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. Money in the Corrections Training Fund is not continuously appropriated and shall be appropriated in the Budget Act. f) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Local Public Prosecutors and Public Defenders Training Fund established pursuant to Penal Code Section 11503 an amount equal to 0.78% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. The amount so transferred shall not exceed the sum of $850,000 in any fiscal year. The remainder in excess of $850,000 shall be transferred to the Restitution Fund. g) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund an amount equal to 8.64% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. h) Once per month, there shall be transferred into the Traumatic Brain Injury Fund an amount equal to 0.66% of the state penalty funds deposited in the State Penalty Fund during the preceding month. 6)Provides for an additional county penalty assessment of $7 for every $10, or fraction thereof, upon every fine, penalty, or forfeiture imposed and collected by the courts for criminal offenses, including all offenses involving a violation of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, except for parking offenses. The money collected shall be placed in any of the following funds if established by a county board of supervisors: Courthouse Construction Fund, Criminal Justice Facilities Construction Fund, Automated Fingerprint Identification Fund, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Fund; and/or DNA Identification Fund. 7)Requires a state surcharge of 20% upon every fine, penalty, or forfeiture imposed and collected by the courts for all criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. AB 1657 Page 5 8)Requires the assessment of $5 for every $10 or fraction thereof, upon every fine, penalty or forfeiture collected by the courts for criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. Additionally, an assessment of $4.50 shall be assessed upon every fine, penalty or forfeiture collected by the courts for criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. These funds are to be used for court construction. 9)Requires a fee of $40 on every conviction for a criminal offense, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code, to ensure adequate funding for court security. 10)Requires a fee of $49 be assessed in addition to any other fines or assessments for any individual attending traffic violator school as a result a violations of specified sections of the Vehicle Code. 11)Allows the superior court in each county to establish a fee up to $10 for clerical and administrative costs incurred for recording and retaining records of the defendant's violations of the Vehicle Code, or violations resulting in the restriction of defendant's driver's license or automobile registration, as specified. 12)Requires the assessment of $4 upon every fine, penalty or forfeiture collected by the courts for criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. These funds are to be used to augment emergency medical air transportation reimbursement payments, as specified. 13)Requires the assessment of $1 for every $10 or fraction thereof, upon every fine, penalty or forfeiture collected by the courts for criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted AB 1657 Page 6 pursuant to the Vehicle Code. These funds are to be used for the purpose of implementing the DNA Fingerprint, Unsolved Crime and Innocence Protection Act, as created by Proposition 69 (1994). 14)Allows the board of supervisors of counties to assess a fine of $2 for every $10 or fraction thereof, upon every fine, penalty or forfeiture collected by the courts for criminal offenses, including all offenses, except specified parking offenses, involving a violation of a section of the Vehicle Code or any local ordinance adopted pursuant to the Vehicle Code. 15)Requires Judicial Council to establish a task force to evaluate criminal and traffic-related, court-ordered debts imposed against adult and juvenile offenders. This task force must identify all court-ordered fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments imposed under the law, and identify the distribution of these fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments. The task force shall consult with state and local entities to evaluate and make recommendations to the Judicial Council and the Legislature. These recommendations must be made by June 30, 2011. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee: 1)Potential increased revenue in the range of $14 million. Extrapolating from about seven million court abstracts with convictions for typically multiple Vehicle Code violations, which average about two per abstract, in 2009, a $1 penalty assessment on each traffic fine would result in increased revenue of about $14 million, assuming no diminishing returns as a result of changes in judicial behavior, collections, or ability to pay. 2)Proliferation of assessments and charges has driven fines steadily upward . For example, a $500 traffic fine with current assessments is now $1,829, shocking defendants who think $500 means $500. A $100 fine is $479. 3)Increasing assessments may result in diminishing returns . Judges have the discretion to reduce the base fine, which then reduces revenue to state and local governments, as well as to AB 1657 Page 7 assessments. As current penalty assessments quadruple the base fine, increasing fines and assessments may have the unintended consequence of reduced fine collections. In addition, indigent defendants facing large fees may simply be unable to pay, and as a result lose their license and car insurance. As noted by the California Research Bureau (CRB) in its 2006 review of penalty assessments, "High penalty assessments may result in higher rates of default by the guilty parties. Some offenders may spend time in jail, or plea for community service, rather than pay the fine and penalty assessment. The end result may be that a substantial amount of fines, fees and revenue is not collected." 4)One-time state trial court costs in the range of $200,000 for programming costs. COMMENTS : According to the author, " Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of spinal cord injuries and by restoring funding to the Roman Reed Spinal Cord Injury Research fund, administered by the Reeve-Irvine Research Center at the University of California, Irvine, California can move closer to a cure for the roughly 650,000 people in our state living with paralysis. "A small investment of state penalty funds, augmented by federal research dollars, will build on the advances already experienced by the Roman Reed SCI Research fund. Not only will these funds, enhance the academic reputation of our research institutions, they will also aid our biotech industry and, most importantly, give hope to all Californians with paralysis that a cure will come." Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by : Milena Blake / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0003812 AB 1657 Page 8