Amended in Senate April 25, 2013

Senate Bill No. 16

Introduced by Senator Gaines

December 3, 2012

An act to begin delete amend Section 27701 end delete begin insert add Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 15205) to Part 6 of Division 3 of Title 2 end insert of the Government Code, relating to begin delete public defenders. end delete begin insert counties. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 16, as amended, Gaines. begin delete Public defenders. end delete begin insert Administration of justice: county costs: nonhomicide criminal trials. end insert

begin insert

Existing law authorizes a county that is responsible for the cost of a trial or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense of homicide to apply to the Controller for reimbursement of the costs incurred by the county in excess of a specified amount subject to certain limitations. Existing law defines “costs incurred by the county” to mean, among other things, all costs, including the trial or trials of a person or persons for the offense of homicide, including costs incurred by the district attorney in investigation and prosecution, by the sheriff in investigation, by the public defender or court-appointed attorney or attorneys in investigation and defense, and all other costs incurred by the county in connection with bringing the person or persons to trial, including the trial itself. Existing law authorizes the Controller to establish rules and regulations to carry out these provisions.

end insert begin insert

This bill would, when the Attorney General is handling the prosecution of a nonhomicide crime in a county, authorize the county that is responsible for the defense costs of a trial or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense of a nonhomicide crime to apply to the Controller for reimbursement of the defense costs incurred by the county in excess of that same amount and subject to those same limitations. The bill would make this authorization applicable to any nonhomicide criminal trial or trials or any hearing commencing on or after January 1, 2012. The bill would authorize the Controller to adopt rules and regulations to carry out these provisions.

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Existing law prescribes specified qualifications for a person to hold the office of public defender.

end delete begin delete

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that provision.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  begin delete no end delete begin insert yes end insert . State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

begin insert

begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 15205)
is added to Part 6 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Chapter   begin insert 3.5. end insert Administration of Justice: Nonhomicide
Trials

 

begin insert 15205. end insert   

The Legislature declares that: (1) the uniform
administration of justice throughout the state is a matter of
statewide interest; (2) the defense and conduct of trials of persons
accused of nonhomicide crimes should not be hampered or delayed
by any lack of funds available to the counties for these purposes;
(3) a county should not be required to bear the entire defense costs
of a trial involving a nonhomicide crime if these costs will seriously
impair the finances of the county; and (4) it is the intention of the
Legislature in enacting this chapter to provide for state assistance
to counties in these emergency situations.

begin insert 15205.2. end insert   

As used in this chapter, “costs incurred by the county”
means all costs, except normal salaries and expenses, incurred by
the county in defending at trial or trials, including the trial or
trials of a person or persons for the offense of a nonhomicide
crime, including costs, except normal salaries and expenses,
incurred by the public defender in investigation and defense. Trial
defense costs shall also include all pretrials, hearings, and
postconviction proceedings, if any.

begin insert 15205.4. end insert   

(a) Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, when
the Attorney General is handling the prosecution of a nonhomicide
crime in a county, the county that is responsible for the defense
costs of a trial or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense
of a nonhomicide crime may apply to the Controller for
reimbursement of the costs incurred by the county in excess of the
amount of money derived by the county from a tax of 0.0125 of 1
percent of the full value of property assessed for purposes of
taxation within the county.

(b) The county authorization in subdivision (a) shall apply to
any nonhomicide criminal trial or trials or any hearing
commencing on or after January 1, 2012.

(c) The Controller shall not reimburse any county for costs that
exceed the California Victim Compensation and Government
Claims Board’s standards for travel and per diem expenses. The
Controller may reimburse extraordinary costs in unusual cases if
the county provides sufficient justification of the need for these
expenditures. This section shall not permit the reimbursement of
costs for travel in excess of 1,000 miles on any single round trip,
without the prior approval of the Attorney General.

(d) Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, reimbursement
funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall be available for
three fiscal years from the date of the appropriation. After three
fiscal years, any unused funds shall revert back to the General
Fund.

begin insert 15205.6. end insert   

If the venue for trial of a nonhomicide criminal case
has been changed from the county that is eligible for
reimbursement under Section 15205.4 to another county, and the
public defender of that county has entered into a contract with an
attorney to try the case or an investigator to assist in the trial of
the case, the Controller shall, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, reimburse the county for the actual defense costs of
the attorney or investigator under this section, at an hourly rate
not to exceed the hourly rate charged to state agencies by the
Attorney General for similar attorney services or investigators,
without a further showing of justification. This section shall not
permit the reimbursement of costs for travel in excess of 1,000
miles on any single round trip, without the prior approval of the
Attorney General.

begin insert 15205.8. end insert   

If the county meets the conditions described in Section
15205.4 and applies to the Controller for reimbursement pursuant
to that section, and the Controller determines that the
reimbursement meets the provisions of Section 15205.2, the
Controller shall request that the Director of Finance include any
amounts necessary to fulfill the purposes of Section 15205.4
annually in a request for a deficiency appropriation in
augmentation of the emergency fund.

begin insert 15205.10. end insert   

Subject to the rulemaking provisions of the
Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2), the Controller
may adopt rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this
chapter.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 27701 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

27701.  

A person is not eligible to hold the office of public
defender unless he or she has been a practicing attorney in all of
the courts of this state for at least the year preceding the date of
his or her election or appointment.

end delete