BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 673
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
673 (Santiago)
As Amended July 1, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: | 79-0 |(April 16, |SENATE: | 38-0 | (July 16, 2015) |
| | |2015) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: PUB. S.
SUMMARY: Establishes procedures for the payment and collection of
fines, fees, forfeitures, penalties, assessments, or restitution
if a person is released on probation or mandatory supervision, and
the jurisdiction of the case is transferred to the superior court
of another county.
The Senate amendments:
1)Authorize a receiving court to additionally collect penalties,
forfeitures, and assessments and allows a receiving court to
impose additional local fees and costs, as specified.
2)Clarify that a receiving court may only collect payment from a
defendant attributable to the case for which the defendant is
being supervised.
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3)Require the Judicial Council to consider adoption of rules of
court as it deems appropriate to implement the collection,
accounting, and disbursement of revenue relating to the transfer
of jurisdiction of a case to another county.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Provides that whenever a person is released upon probation or
mandatory supervision the court, upon noticed motion, shall
transfer the case to the superior court in any other the person
resides permanently, meaning the stated intention to remain for
the duration of probation or mandatory supervision, unless the
transferring court determines that the transfer is inappropriate
and states its reasons on the record. Upon notice of the motion
for transfer, the court of the proposed receiving county may
provide comments for the record regarding the proposed transfer
following procedures set forth in rules of court developed by
the Judicial Council. The court and the probation department
shall give the matter of investigating those transfers
precedence over all actions and proceedings therein, except
actions or proceedings to which special precedence is given by
law, to the end that all those transfers shall be completed
expeditiously.
2)Requires the court of the receiving county to accept the entire
jurisdiction over the case.
3)Mandates that the order of transfer contain an order committing
the probationer to the care and custody of the probation officer
of the receiving county and an order for reimbursement of
reasonable costs for processing the transfer to be paid to the
sending county as specified. A copy of the orders and probation
reports shall be transmitted to the court and probation officer
of the receiving county within two weeks of the finding by that
county that the person does permanently reside in or has
permanently moved to that county, and thereafter the receiving
court shall have entire jurisdiction over the case, with the
like power to again request transfer of the case whenever it
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seems proper.
4)Requires that the order of transfer contain an order committing
the probationer or supervised person to the care and custody of
the probation officer of the receiving county and, if
applicable, an order for reimbursement of reasonable costs for
processing the transfer to be paid to the sending county as
specified. A copy of the orders and any probation reports shall
be transmitted to the court and probation officer of the
receiving county within two weeks of the finding by that county
that the person does permanently reside in or has permanently
moved to that county, and thereafter the receiving court shall
have entire jurisdiction over the case, with the like power to
again request transfer of the case whenever it seems proper.
5)Requires the Judicial Council to adopt rules providing factors
for the court's consideration when determining the
appropriateness of a transfer, including but not limited to the
following:
a) Permanency of residence of the offender;
b) Local programs available for the offender; and,
c) Restitution orders and victim issues.
6)States that the transferring court must consider at least the
following factors when determining whether transfer is
appropriate:
a) The permanency of the supervised person's residence;
b) The availability of appropriate programs for the
supervised person;
c) Restitution orders, including inability to determine
restitution amount and the victim's ability to collect; and
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d) Other victim issues, including residence and places
frequented by the victim and enforcement of protective
orders.
7)States that, to the extent possible, the transferring court must
establish any amount of restitution owed by the supervised
person before it orders the transfer.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY, this bill:
1)Required the receiving court, when probation or mandatory
supervision is transferred to the superior court in another
county, to accept the entire jurisdiction over the case
effective the date that the transferring court orders the
transfer.
2)Provided that, notwithstanding, the fact that jurisdiction over
the case transfers to the receiving court effective the date
that the transferring court orders the transfer, if the
transferring court has ordered the defendant to pay fines, fees,
or restitution, the transfer order shall require that those and
any other collections ordered by the transferring court be paid
by the defendant to the collection agency for the transferring
court for proper distribution and accounting.
3)Stated that the receiving court and receiving county probation
department may amend financial orders and add additional local
fees as authorized, and shall notify the responsible collection
agency of those changes.
4)Provided that any local fees imposed by the receiving court
shall be collected by the collection agency for the receiving
court, and shall not be sent to the collection agency for the
transferring court.
5)Allowed a receiving court to collect court-ordered payments from
a defendant, provided however, that the collection agency for
the receiving court transmit the funds to the collection agency
for the transferring court for deposit and accounting. A
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collection agency for the receiving court shall not charge
administrative fees for collections completed for the
transferring without an agreement with the other agency.
6)Allowed a collection agency for a receiving court to voluntarily
collect funds for the transferring court, and shall not report
funds owed or collected on behalf of the transferring court as
part of those collections required to be reported by the court
to the Administrative Office of the courts.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the
Legislative Counsel.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Penal Code [Section (PC
Section)] 1203.9 was enacted to establish a process whereby
persons on probation could have their supervision and case
transferred from the sentencing county to their county of
residence. Currently, this section calls for the transfer of the
'entire case' to the new jurisdiction. However, PC 1203.9 is
silent on court ordered debt as it relates to the transfer and the
process for collection and distribution once transferred.
Therefore, there are varying degrees of how the collection and
distribution of these funds are handled.
"AB 673 streamlines existing probation and court processes
relative to the transfer of fines and fees that a probationer is
responsible for by creating a single, uniform process statewide.
The bill would keep the responsibility for collection of fines and
fees with the sentencing county and the sentencing county would
then disburse the payments received accordingly. This construct
is particularly useful in cases where a probationer transfers
residences multiple times since they would always make payments to
their sentencing county which handled the case. This also serves
a great benefit to victims seeking restitution as it would create
a singular contact for the victim that would always know where the
case is currently being supervised in the event the victim needs
to get in touch with the supervising agency."
Analysis Prepared by:
AB 673
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Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN:
0001213