BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 567
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 2, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Bob Wieckowski, Chair
AB 567 (Wagner) - As Introduced: February 20, 2013
PROPOSED CONSENT
SUBJECT : ENFORCEMENT OF MONEY JUDGMENTS: EXEMPTIONS
KEY ISSUE : SHOULD CALIFORNIA LAW BE UPDATED TO NO LONGER
REQUIRE EXEMPTION AMOUNTS TO BE MANUALLY REVIEWED AND ADJUSTED
FOR INFLATION EVERY TEN YEARS, GIVEN THAT A LATER ENACTED LAW
ALREADY REQUIRES THE EXEMPTION AMOUNTS TO BE AUTOMATICALLY
INCREASED EVERY THREE YEARS TO ACCOUNT FOR INFLATION?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
This noncontroversial bill, sponsored by the California Law
Revision Commission (CLRC), seeks to delete the requirement that
the CLRC perform a decennial review of the amounts exempted from
the enforcement of money judgments. According to the author,
the requirement is outdated and unnecessary because, at the
CLRC's own recommendation, the Legislature in 2003 established a
statutory cost of living adjustment ("COLA") mechanism to
automatically increase the exemption amounts every three years
to keep pace with inflation. The CLRC recently completed its
third decennial review and concluded that this automatic COLA
mechanism has been operating as intended. Because the statutory
exemption amounts no longer require manual adjustment to account
for inflation, it is sensible to repeal Section 703.120 to
eliminate the requirement that CLRC continue to review and make
such adjustments every ten years. This bill has no known
opposition.
SUMMARY : Eliminates an unnecessary mandate requiring certain
exemption amounts to be manually reviewed every 10 years for
cost-of-living adjustment. Specifically, this bill :
1)Deletes the requirement that the California Law Revision
Commission (CLRC) review the statutory amounts exempted from
the enforcement of money judgments every ten years.
AB 567
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2)Preserves the authority of the CLRC to maintain a continuing
review of the enforcement of judgments and to submit
recommendations to the Governor and Legislature.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the California Law Revision Commission once every ten
years to review the amounts that are exempt from enforcement
of a money judgment, and recommend to the Governor and the
Legislature any changes in exempt amounts that appear proper.
(Code of Civil Procedure Section 703.120(a).)
2)Requires the Judicial Council every three years to adjust for
inflation the dollar amounts for specified exemptions, based
on the change in the annual California Consumer Price Index
for All Urban Consumers over the most recent three-year period
ending on December 31 preceding the adjustment, with each
adjusted amount rounded to the nearest twenty-five dollars
($25). (Section 703.150 (d).)
3)Authorizes the CLRC to review and submit recommendations
concerning any aspect of the state law concerning enforcement
of judgments. (Section 703.120(b).)
COMMENTS : This noncontroversial bill, sponsored by the
California Law Revision Commission (CLRC), seeks to delete the
requirement that the CLRC perform a decennial review of the
amounts exempted from the enforcement of money judgments.
Over 30 years ago, the Legislature approved and the Governor
signed legislation (Ch. 1364, Stats. 1982) which enacted Code of
Civil Procedure Section 703.120, requiring the CLRC, once every
ten years, to perform a review of amounts exempted from the
enforcement of money judgments.
Twenty years later, in its second decennial review, the CLRC
recommended the creation of a statutory cost of living
adjustment ("COLA") mechanism, to automatically increase the
exemption amounts every three years to keep pace with inflation.
As a result, the Legislature enacted AB 182, Ch. 379, Stats.
2003, which enacted the COLA mechanism recommended by CLRC into
law (see Code of Civil Procedure Section 703.150).
The CLRC recently completed its third decennial review and
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concluded that the automatic COLA mechanism has been operating
as intended. Because the statutory exemption amounts no longer
require manual adjustment to account for inflation, it is
sensible to repeal Section 703.120 to eliminate the requirement
that CLRC continue to review and make such adjustments every ten
years.
Section 703.120 also authorizes CLRC to maintain a continuing
review of the enforcement of judgments generally, and to submit
policy recommendations to the Governor and Legislature. Should
this bill be approved, this authority would be preserved but
relocated to a new section, namely Section 681.035 of the Code
of Civil Procedure.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Law Revision Commission
Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared by : Anthony Lew / JUD. / (916) 319-2334