BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2256|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2256
Author: Garcia (D)
Amended: 6/16/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 6-1, 6/10/14
AYES: Jackson, Corbett, Lara, Leno, Monning, Vidak
NOES: Anderson
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-11, 4/3/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Civil procedure: service and fees
SOURCE : California State Sheriffs Association
Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department
DIGEST : This bill adjusts and adds to the fees set under
existing law for service of process of various documents by
sheriffs and revises existing requirements for gaining access to
gated communities for the purpose of service of process.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that when an action is
against a sheriff, all process and orders may be served by any
person, a citizen of the United States over the age of 18 years,
in the manner provided in the Code of Civil Procedure.
This bill instead allows all process and orders in an action
against a sheriff to be served by any person in the manner
provided in the Code of Civil Procedure.
CONTINUED
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Existing law permits a plaintiff to have the clerk of the court
issue a summons for any defendant, as specified. Existing law
provides that a copy of the summons may then be served on the
defendant, as specified, including by personal delivery of a
copy of the summons and complaint to the person to be served.
Existing law requires the registration of and governs specified
persons who qualify as process servers, as specified. Existing
law provides that a person who receives or expects specific
compensation for serving process more than ten times in a year
must file and maintain a certificate of registration as a
process server in the appropriate county. Existing law provides
for specified exemptions from this requirement to register as a
process server, including, among others, private investigators.
Existing law, the Private Investigator Act, governs the
licensing, registration, and regulation of private
investigators, as specified. Existing law provides that a
private investigator within the meaning of this chapter is a
person, subject to certain exceptions, who, for any
consideration whatsoever, engages in business or accepts
employment to furnish or agrees to furnish any person to protect
persons, as specified, or engages in business or accepts
employment to furnish, or agrees to make, or makes, any
investigation for the purpose of obtaining certain information.
Existing law, with respect to gated communities staffed at the
time service of process is attempted by a guard or other
security personnel assigned to control access to the community,
provides that notwithstanding any other law, any person shall be
granted access to a gated community for a reasonable period of
time for the sole purpose of performing lawful service of
process or service of a subpoena, upon identifying to the guard
the person(s) to be served, and upon displaying a current
driver's license or other identification, and one of the
following:
1. A badge or other confirmation that the individual is acting
in his/her capacity as a representative of a county sheriff
or marshal; or
2. Evidence of current registration as a process server or of
licensure as a private investigator under the Business and
Professions Code.
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This bill deletes the requirement for the individual serving the
subpoena identify to the guard the person or persons being
served.
Existing law permits the sheriff to notify the party protected
by a protective order by telephone or email when service of the
protective order is made, as specified. Existing law applies
that provision only to specified orders or injunctions of the
Code of Civil Procedure, the Family Code, and of the Welfare and
Institutions Code, as specified.
This bill allows the sheriff to provide notification by
publishing notice of service of process on the sheriff's
Internet Web site. This bill also deletes the language
expressly limiting this section to specified orders and
injunctions.
Existing law authorizes certain fees for service of various
documents by sheriff's offices.
This bill adjusts those fees as follows:
1. Increase from $35 to $40 the fee for:
A. Serving or executing any process or notice, except as
otherwise provided;
B. Service of a summons, complaint, and prejudgment
claim of right to possession, as specified, for all
occupants not named in the summons;
C. Serving, executing, or processing a writ of
attachment, writ of execution, writ of sale, or order on
real estate, as to the initial service or posting of a
continuous unbroken parcel or tract, and the fee for
serving a record owner other than the defendant;
D. Preparing and posting the initial notice of personal
property sale under a writ of attachment, execution, or
sale or order of court;
E. Making a levy on personal property already in
possession of the officer who is holding it under
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attachment in the same action;
F. Executing and delivering any other instrument;
F. Subpoenaing a witness, including a copy of the
subpoena and any affidavit required to be served
therewith;
G. The service of the summons, the complaint for which
the summons is issued, and all other documents or
notices required to be served with the summons and
complaint, in any action commenced in the superior
court;
H. Maintaining custody of property under levy by the use
of a keeper, for each day custody is maintained after
the first day;
I. Cancellation of the service or execution of any
process, other than a summons;
J. Making a not-found return on an affidavit and order,
order for appearance, subpoena, writ of attachment, writ
of execution, writ of possession, order for delivery of
personal property, or other process or notice required
to be served, certifying that the person or property
cannot be found at the address specified; and
K. Receiving and processing a warrant for failure to
appear pursuant to a subpoena or failure to appear
pursuant to a court order, as an alternative to issuing
a warrant for contempt, as specified.
2. Increase from $85 to $100 the fee for:
A. Serving, executing, or processing any writ or order
where the levying officer is required to take immediate
possession of the property levied upon; and
B. Arresting a person pursuant to a warrant for failure
to appear pursuant to a subpoena or failure to appear
pursuant to a court order, as an alternative to issuing
a warrant for contempt, as specified.
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(1) Increase from $125 to $135 the fee for
opening a safe-deposit box pursuant to specified
provisions relating to pre-judgment attachment of
safe-deposit boxes and the levying of property in
safe-deposit boxes in financial institutions.
(2) Increase from $10 to $20, each, the fee for
serving or posting any additionally required
notices or orders on other parcels.
(3) Increase from $280 to $300 the cap on how
much any one keeper can receive in any 24-hour
period employed for keeping and caring for property
under a writ of attachment, execution, possession.
3. Increase from $50 to $60 the fee for:
A. A keeper when a levying officer prepares a not-found
return, as specified; and
B. Removing an occupant or occupants from the premises
and putting a person in possession of the premises.
4. Increase from 50 cents per page to one dollar per page the
fee for a copy of any writ, process, paper, order, or notice
actually made when required or demanded, except as otherwise
specified under existing law.
5. Increase from $10 to $15 the fee for:
A. preparing and posting each additionally required
notice of personal property sales;
B. Furnishing a notice of publication;
C. Execution and delivery of a deed or certificate of
redemption; and
D. Executing and delivering a certificate or deed of
sale.
6. Increase from $85 to $90 the fee for conducting or postponing
the sale of real or personal property as required by law or
the litigant.
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7. Increase from $15 to $18 the amount of any fee collected by
the sheriff's civil division or marshal, under specified
provisions of law, which must be deposited in a special fund
in the county treasury.
8. Increase from $75 to $85 the fee for:
A. Serving a writ of possession of real property on an
occupant or the occupants or for positing and serving a
copy on the judgment debtor; and
B. Processing a warrant for failure to appear pursuant
to a subpoena or failure to appear pursuant to a court
order, as an alternative to issuing a warrant for
contempt, as specified, if unable to find the person at
the address specified using due diligence.
9. Increase from $17 to $20 the fee to be assessed by the
sheriff or marshal for certification of correction on each
citation that requires inspection for proof of correction of
any violation pursuant to the Vehicle Code.
10.Increase from $30 to $35 the fee for serving an earnings
withholding order under the Wage Garnishment Law, including,
but not limited to, costs of postage or traveling, and for
performing all other duties of the levying officer as
specified.
This bill, for any action commenced in a superior court for
which service of summons is attempted, add a $40 fee for
cancellation for the service of a summons prior to its
completion, as well as a $40 fee for making a not-found return
on a summons certifying that the person cannot be found at the
address specified.
This bill makes other clarifying or non-substantive changes and
deletes obsolete dates.
Background
The sheriff of a county is required under existing law to
perform certain duties in addition to law enforcement, such as
service of process. Existing law allows the sheriff to charge
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and collect set fees to offset their costs. That being said,
indigent litigants, proceeding in forma pauperis, pay no fee for
these services. The collected fees cover only a portion of the
sheriffs' costs for performing these services, and the county
subsidizes the remaining cost. Periodically, the statutes
governing the fees that a sheriff may charge are revised to
reflect increases in costs to the sheriff. Such fees were last
increased with the passage of AB 680 (Hall, Chapter 4, Statutes
of 2010).
Separately, with respect to service of process within gated
communities that are staffed by a guard or other security
personnel assigned to control access to the community, existing
law allows registered process servers and representatives of a
county's sheriff's or marshal's office to gain access to the
gated community in order to perform service of process, upon
meeting certain requirements. (AB 3307, Takasugi, Chapter 691,
Statutes of 1994). That provision was added in response to
difficulties witnessed with serving process in gated
communities, and was subsequently amended in 2012 to also allow
licensed private investigators to enter a gated community for a
reasonable amount of time for the sole purpose of performing
lawful service of process or service of subpoena. (AB 1720,
Torres, Chapter 113, Statutes of 2012); the bill also clarified
that registered process servers and county sheriff's and
marshal's representatives who enter to perform service of
process or subpoena are also entering for that sole purpose.)
Prior Legislation
AB 1742 (Assembly Judiciary Committee, Chapter 706, Statutes of
2005), allowed registered process servers and sheriff's and
marshal's representatives to have access to gated communities,
as otherwise specified, to perform service of subpoenas.
AB 1150 (La Suer, Chapter 474, Statutes of 2005) enacted a
series of requirements to govern the issuance and execution of
civil arrest warrants for failure to appear pursuant to a
subpoena or a court order, and established that the sheriff may
obtain specified fees for the processing and execution of a
warrant.
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AB 1768 (Steinberg, Chapter 629, Statutes of 2000) revised and
increased prescribed fees charged for serving, executing and
processing required court notes, writs, orders, and other
services provided by sheriffs and marshals.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/11/14)
California State Sheriffs' Association (co-source)
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (co-source)
California Apartment Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "Current civil
fees do not cover costs forcing Sheriff's to reduce staff and
resources dedicated to the service of civil process. Also,
current law does not require adequate information for the
[service of] civil warrants. Additionally, the current law is
not clear on the authority for sheriffs and others to service
process in a gated community.
"The bill does a number of things. First it increases a number
of fees. Second the bill would authorize sheriffs to gain
access to gated communities. Third, it would codify the serving
of business organizations. Fourth it would allow for a more
modern internet notification of when a protective order has been
served and lastly it would clean up the sections in law
pertaining to the service of civil warrants for contempt and
failure to appear."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 52-11, 4/3/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Bocanegra,
Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson,
Eggman, Fong, Frazier, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gray, Hall, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine,
Lowenthal, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
Pérez, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A.
Pérez
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Chávez, Donnelly, Beth Gaines, Hagman,
Jones, Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Conway, Dahle, Fox, Gorell, Grove, Harkey,
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Linder, Logue, Medina, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson,
Quirk-Silva, Salas, Wagner, Waldron, Vacancy
AL:JA:d 6/17/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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