BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 934|
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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 Attorneys Office
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
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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
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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's Office (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 8/28/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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