BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2094| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2094 Author: Butler (D) Amended: 7/2/12 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/12/12 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Harman, Liu, Price, Steinberg NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/10/12 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Domestic violence: mandatory minimum probation fine SOURCE : California Partnership to End Domestic Violence DIGEST : This bill increases, from $400 to $500, the fee imposed on persons granted probation for a domestic violence offense, as specified; and requires a court to state its reasons for reducing or waiving this fee on the record. Senate Floor Amendments of 7/2/12 make non-substantive double-joining amendments with AB 1165 (Achadjian). ANALYSIS : Under existing law, if a person is granted probation for a domestic violence crime, as specified, the terms of probation shall include all of the following: 1. A minimum period of probation of 36 months, which may CONTINUED AB 2094 Page 2 include a period of summary probation as appropriate. 2. A criminal court protective order protecting the victim from further acts of violence, threats, stalking, sexual abuse, and harassment, and, if appropriate, containing residence exclusion or stay-away conditions. 3. Notice to the victim of the disposition of the case. 4. Booking the defendant within one week of sentencing if the defendant has not already been booked. 5. A minimum payment by the defendant of $400 to be disbursed as specified. If, after a hearing in court on the record, the court finds that the defendant does not have the ability to pay, the court may reduce or waive this fee. (Penal Code Section 1203.097(a)) This bill increases the minimum fine from $400 to $500. This bill additionally requires a court to state the reason for exercising its discretion to reduce or waive this fee on the record. Comments Pending Audit . Domestic violence fees currently are the subject of an audit being performed by the Bureau of State Audits. Due in August of this year, the audit will include the following: 1. Review and evaluate the laws, rules, and regulations significant to the audit objectives. 2. For a sample of four counties, to the extent possible, obtain the following information regarding their domestic violence program's special fund for each year in the most recent four-year period: A. Total amount of fee revenue collected. B. Determine whether revenue from fees collected from individuals granted probation for crimes of domestic violence (Penal Code Section CONTINUED AB 2094 Page 3 1203.097(a)) are separately tracked for accounting purposes. C. Beginning and ending balances of the account and the fund. D. Amount of fee revenue transferred to domestic violence programs. Identify recipients of this funding that are not domestic violence programs, if any. E. The number of individuals served by the shelters receiving funding from the probation fee. F. Determine how long the counties are holding these funds before transferring them to the shelters. G. Determine if the counties' use of these funds complies with statutory requirements. 3. For a sample of courts in the counties selected, assess the extent to which each court has an adequate process for handling the domestic violence probation fees by determining the following for each year in the most recent four-year period: A. Whether the counties receive all necessary information related to the fees from the courts. B. The frequency of complete fee payments by probationers. C. The extent to which mechanisms exist to enforce payment of the fee and the effectiveness of those mechanisms. D. The extent to which the courts are completely and accurately remitting the fees paid. E. How long the courts are holding these funds before transferring them to the counties. CONTINUED AB 2094 Page 4 4. Review and assess any other issues that are significant to domestic violence probation fees. Prior legislation . AB 2011 (Arambula), Chapter 132, Statutes of 2010, passed the Senate Floor (34-0) on July 1, 2010. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 7/2/12) California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (source) AFSCME, AFL-CIO California Communities United Institute ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author states, "This bill would raise the minimum fee of the domestic violence service provider's fund from $400 to $500. This bill will continue to allow the courts discretion on assessing, reducing and waiving of the domestic violence fee if the defendant is unable to pay. If the fee is reduced or waived, the judge will state on the record their reasoning for making that decision." ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 74-0, 5/10/12 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Pan, Perea, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Cook, Fletcher, Furutani, Jeffries, Olsen, V. Manuel Pérez CONTINUED AB 2094 Page 5 RJG:k 7/3/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED