BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 934| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 934 Author: Cooley (D) Amended: 8/21/13 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 6-0, 6/12/13 AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Liu NO VOTE RECORDED: Hernandez ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Local agencies: unclaimed money SOURCE : Los Angeles County District Attorney DIGEST : This bill requires a local agency to document that it has made a reasonable effort to locate and notify the victim to whom restitution is owed if, at the expiration of a three-year period, the local agency elects to use the restitution funds for victim services. ANALYSIS : The California Constitution provides that all persons who suffer losses as a result of criminal activity will have the right to restitution from the perpetrators of the crimes, unless there are compelling and extraordinary reasons (Article I, Section 28). A county that holds victim restitution funds can designate an agency to transfer funds to, the California Victim Compensation CONTINUED AB 934 Page 2 and Government Claims Board (CVCGCB) for direct payment to the victim, the Restitution Fund, to the extent that the victim has received assistance pursuant to that program, or the victim directly. In 1995, the Legislature required victim restitution moneys to be either deposited into the Restitution Fund, or used by the local agency for purposes of victim services after the expiration of a three-year period. Once a judgment has been made to award restitution moneys to victims, and victims have not been found, the only notice that is required is publication in the newspaper (SB 911, Marks, Chapter 876, Statutes of 1995). Last year, the Legislature approved legislation requiring courts to assess a post release community supervision or mandatory-supervision revocation fine in the same amount as that imposed for a restitution fine, and authorizes local agencies to collect them. This change 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 (SB 1210, Lieu, Chapter 762, Statutes of 2012). Also last year, the Legislature authorized prosecutors to send victim contact information to California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), without the victim's consent, for purposes of distributing restitution (AB 2251, Feuer, Chapter 124, Statutes of 2012). This bill requires a local agency, if it elects to use the unclaimed victims restitution money for purposes of victim services at the expiration of the three-year period, to first document that it has made a reasonable effort to locate and notify the victim to whom the restitution is owed. Comments According to the Senate Governance and Finance Committee analysis, some local officials want to ensure that agencies make a sincere and reasonable effort to get victims the restitution fees due to them. Currently, the only notice that is required is publication in the newspaper. This form of notice is rarely effective. The procedure used by investigators to find witness, including contacting them through previous listed phone numbers, addresses, emails, and social media, is far more intensive. The CONTINUED AB 934 Page 3 Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey notes that 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 states that "it is time to update this law to assure that crime victims will receive the money that is owed to them." AB 934 advances the laudable goal of providing crime victims with restitution that state laws provide to them. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/27/13) Los Angeles County District Attorney (source) Crime Victims United ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/16/13 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom, Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Mitchell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Ting, Torres, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Buchanan, Eggman, Beth Gaines, Grove, Holden, Melendez, Morrell, Stone, Vacancy AB:nl 8/27/13 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** CONTINUED