BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 934
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 934 (Cooley) - As Amended: March 21, 2013
Policy Committee: Local
GovernmentVote:9-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Reimbursable:Yes
SUMMARY
This bill requires local agencies to document a reasonable
effort to locate victims to whom restitution is owed.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a local agency to document that it has made a
reasonable effort to locate the victim to whom restitution is
owed before depositing funds into the Restitution Fund or
using those funds for victim services.
2)Provides that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines
that this bill contains costs mandated by the state,
reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those
costs shall be made pursuant to current law governing
state-mandated local costs.
FISCAL EFFECT
Possible state costs in the tens of thousands of dollars to
reimburse local governments, chiefly counties, for victim
location efforts. However, existing law allows a portion of the
restitution to be used to pay for administrative costs by the
agency attempting to contact the victim, reducing possible state
reimbursements for the local mandate.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Restitution is a right under the California
Constitution and California statute. The author notes, this
right was most recently strengthened by the passage of Marsy's
Law, Proposition 9 of 2008, and it is clear that the will of
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the people in this state favors restitution to a crime victim.
According to the author's office, in July of 2011, the CDCR
made the Los Angeles District Attorney's office aware of
$217,555.48 that had gone undisbursed to nearly 4,000 crime
victims in Los Angeles County who had not been located. In
one case, one victim was owed approximately $18,000.
2)Support. Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey,
the bill's sponsor, notes money may be collected on behalf of
victims by probation departments and prosecutors as well as
the state. Due to realignment of the prison population,
increasing numbers of crime victims will rely on local
government rather than CDCR to collect restitution. She
argues it is important to update this law to assure that crime
victims will receive the money that is owed to them.
3)Background . Last year, the Legislature approved SB 1210
(Lieu), Chapter 762, Statutes of 2012, which requires courts
to assess a mandatory-supervision revocation fine in the same
amount as that imposed for a restitution fine, and authorizes
local agencies to collect. This was part of California's
corrections realignment plan, which shifted responsibility
from the state to counties for the custody, treatment, and
supervision of individuals convicted of specified nonviolent,
non-serious, non-sex crimes. This bill is a follow-up measure
that requires local agencies to make a reasonable effort to
locate victims of crime who are owed restitution before the
local agency transfers unclaimed restitution funds to the
Restitution Fund or uses the funds for victim services.
Also last year, the Legislature approved AB 2251 (Feuer),
Chapter 124, Statutes of 2012, which authorizes prosecutors to
send victim contact information to CDCR without the victim's
consent for purposes of distributing restitution.
4)There is no registered opposition to this bill .
Analysis Prepared by : Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
AB 934
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