BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 508|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 508
Author: Ian Calderon (D), et al.
Amended: 6/17/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/14/13
AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Block, De León, Knight, Liu, Steinberg
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 4/22/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Debt collection: homeless veterans
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill delays garnishing wages or levying against
the bank account of a veteran to pay for specified violations
when a court determines that the person is homeless.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Authorizes a county or court to establish a comprehensive
collections program to enhance the collection of delinquent
court-ordered debt and improve recovery efforts, and requires
the comprehensive collection program to include at least 10
of a possible 16 characteristics, as specified.
CONTINUED
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2. Provides that if a court, during the course of its routine
process to collect fees, fines, forfeitures, or other
penalties imposed by a court due to a citation issued for the
violation of a state or local law, obtains information
indicating that a person under 25 years of age, who has been
issued a citation for truancy, loitering, curfew violations,
or illegal lodging that is outstanding or unpaid, is homeless
or has no permanent address, the court shall not garnish the
wages or levy against bank accounts of that person until that
person is 25 years of age or older.
3. Defines a "homeless person" as any person who lacks a fixed,
regular, and adequate nighttime residence, or has a primary
nighttime residence, as specified.
This bill:
1. Provides that notwithstanding any other law, if a court,
during the course of its routine process to collect fees,
fines and forfeitures, or other penalties imposed by a court
due to a citation issued of the violation of a state or local
law, obtains information including that a person who has been
issued a citation for loitering, curfew violations, or
illegal lodging that is outstanding or unpaid served in the
military within the last eight years and is homeless or has
no permanent address, the court shall not garnish the wages
or levy against bank accounts of that person for five years
from the date that the court obtained that information.
2. Provides that a person is to be considered "homeless," or as
having "no permanent address" if that person does not have a
fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence, or has a
primary night time residence that is one of the following:
A. A shelter designed to provide temporary living
accommodations.
B. An institution that provides temporary residence for
individuals intended to be institutionalized.
C. A public or private place not designed for, or
ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation
for human beings.
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3. Provides that nothing is construed to prevent a court from
engaging in any other lawful debt collection activities.
4. Provides that nothing is construed to require a court to
perform any further investigation or financial screening into
any matter beyond the scope of its regular duties.
5. Provides that nothing shall be construed to prevent the
Judicial Council from altering any best practices or
recommendations for collection programs.
6. Provides that nothing is construed to prevent a court from
garnishing a person's wages or levying against a person's
bank accounts if the court, subsequent to its initial
determination that the person was a homeless veteran exempt
from wage garnishment or levy, obtains evidence that the
individual is no longer homeless, or that the court had, on a
previous occasion, suspended garnishment of that person's
wages or levying against that person's bank accounts.
7. Makes legislative findings and declarations relating to
homeless veterans.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/24/13)
AMVETS-Department of California
California Public Defenders Association
Housing California
National Association of Social Workers, California Chapter
Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety
VFW-Department of California
Vietnam Veterans of America, California State Council
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
The homeless are frequently ticketed for offenses
synonymous with their homelessness, such as loitering,
illegal lodging, and curfew violations. The inability of
homeless veterans to pay for tickets and subsequent fines
for offenses related to their homeless status may lead to
the garnishment of their wages and bank accounts, damage
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to their credit history, and create other barriers to
their establishing financial stability and independence.
By making it harder for homeless veterans to save money to
end their homelessness, such garnishments paradoxically as
well increase the likelihood that the public safety
offenses the tickets are meant to dissuade will in fact
occur.
The purpose of this bill is to temporarily prohibit courts
from garnishing the wages or levying against bank accounts
of a veteran, who has served in the military within the
last eight years, who has not paid a ticket for curfew
violations, loitering, or illegal lodging where, in the
course of its routine efforts to collect fines, the court
obtains information indicating that veteran is homeless.
The veteran is still guilty of the offense and obligated
to pay the fines but the garnishment is postponed for five
years from the date the court obtained information the
veteran is homeless in order to give the veteran a chance
to earn their way out of homelessness.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 77-0, 4/22/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Maienschein,
Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V.
Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk,
Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lowenthal, Olsen, Vacancy
JG:d 6/24/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****
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