BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 508| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 AB 508 Page 2 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. AB 508 Page 3 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 AB 508 Page 4 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 **** AB 508 Page 5