BILL NUMBER: SB 1371	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 19, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Anderson

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to amend Section  1202.4   1205 
of the Penal Code, relating to victim restitution.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1371, as amended, Anderson. Victim restitution: 
private debt collector.   fines: default. 
   Existing law requires a court to order a defendant to make
restitution in every case in which a victim has suffered economic
loss as a result of the defendant's conduct. Existing law requires
the restitution order to be based on the amount of loss claimed by
the victim or victims, and to be of a dollar amount that is
sufficient to fully reimburse the victim or victims for every
determined economic loss incurred as a result of the defendant's
criminal conduct, as specified. Under existing law, a restitution
order imposed pursuant to these provisions is enforceable as if the
order were a civil judgment. 
   Existing law provides for compensation to be made from the
Restitution Fund to crime victims by the California Victim
Compensation and Government Claims Board. Existing law requires that
the board be subrogated to the rights of the recipient of a
restitution order to the extent that any compensation was granted to
the recipient by the board. Existing law also provides that the board
is entitled to a lien on any judgment, award, or settlement in favor
of the crime victim receiving restitution in the amount of
compensation granted to the victim by the board.  
   This bill would authorize the board, with the consent of the
victim of a crime to whom restitution is owed, to enter into a
contract with a private debt collector in order to promote the
collection of restitution owed to the victim after an order for
restitution has been made, as specified.  
   Existing law specifies that a judgment that a defendant pay a fine
may also direct that he or she be imprisoned until the fine is
satisfied, and that the imprisonment begin at and continue after the
expiration of any other prison sentence. Existing law makes those
provisions applicable to restitution fines and restitution orders
only if the defendant has defaulted on the payment of other fines.
 
   This bill would instead make those provisions regarding
imprisonment until a fine is satisfied inapplicable to restitution
fines and restitution orders. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  yes
  no  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 1205 of the   Penal
Code   is amended to read: 
   1205.  (a) A judgment that the defendant pay a fine, with or
without other punishment, may also direct that he or she be
imprisoned until the fine is satisfied and may further direct that
the imprisonment begin at and continue after the expiration of any
imprisonment imposed as a part of the punishment or of any other
imprisonment to which  he or she   the defendant
 may  theretofore  have been sentenced.
 Each of these judgments   The judgment 
shall specify the  extent   term  of
 the  imprisonment for nonpayment of the fine, which
shall not be more than one day for each thirty dollars ($30) of the
fine, nor exceed  in any case  the term for which
the defendant  might   may  be sentenced to
imprisonment for the offense of which he or she has been convicted.
A defendant held in custody for nonpayment of a fine shall be
entitled to credit on the fine for each day he or she is  so
 held in custody, at the rate specified in the judgment.
When the defendant has been convicted of a misdemeanor, a judgment
that the defendant pay a fine may also direct that he or she pay the
fine within a limited time or in installments on specified dates 
,  and that in default of payment as  therein 
stipulated he or she be imprisoned in the discretion of the court
either until the defaulted installment is satisfied or until the fine
is satisfied in full; but unless the direction is given in the
judgment, the fine shall be payable  forthwith  .
   (b) Except as otherwise provided in case of fines imposed 
, including restitution fines or restitution orders , as
 conditions   a condition  of probation,
the defendant shall pay the fine to the clerk of the court, or to the
judge  thereof  if there is no clerk, unless the
defendant is taken into custody for nonpayment of the fine, in which
event payments made while he or she is in custody shall be made to
the officer who holds  him or her   the
defendant  in custody  ,  and all amounts  so
 paid shall be  forthwith  paid over by the
officer to the court  which   that 
rendered the judgment. The clerk shall report to the court every
default in payment of a fine or any part  thereof 
 of that fine  , or if there is no clerk, the court shall
take notice of the default. If time has been given for payment of a
fine or it has been made payable in installments, the court shall,
upon any default in payment, immediately order the arrest of the
defendant and order him or her to show cause why he or she should not
be imprisoned until the fine or installment  thereof, as the
case may be,  is satisfied in full. If the fine  ,
restitution fine, restitution order,  or installment
 ,  is payable forthwith and it is not  so
 paid, the court shall  ,  without further
proceedings, immediately commit the defendant to the custody of the
proper officer to be held in custody until the fine or installment
 thereof, as the case may be,  is satisfied in full.

   (c) This section applies to any violation of any of the codes or
statutes of this state punishable by a fine or by a fine and
imprisonment. 
    Nothing 
    (d)     Nothing  in this section shall
be construed to prohibit the clerk of the court, or the judge
 thereof  if there is no clerk, from turning these
accounts over to another county department or a collecting agency for
processing and collection. 
   (d) 
    (e)  The defendant shall pay to the clerk of the court
or the collecting agency a fee for the processing of installment
accounts. This fee shall equal the administrative and clerical costs,
as determined by the board of supervisors, or by the court,
depending on which entity administers the account. The defendant
shall pay to the clerk of the court or the collecting agency the fee
established for the processing of the accounts receivable that are
not to be paid in installments. The fee shall equal the
administrative and clerical costs, as determined by the board of
supervisors, or by the court, depending on which entity administers
the account, except that the fee shall not exceed thirty dollars
($30). 
   (e) 
    (f)  This section shall  only   not
 apply to restitution fines and restitution orders  if
the defendant has defaulted on the payment of other fines  .
All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill
as introduced in the Senate, February 24, 2012. (JR11)