BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 934 Page 1 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 AB 934 Page 2 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 Page 3