BILL NUMBER: AB 1127 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Cooley
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act to add and repeal Section 26840.12 of the
Government Code, to add and repeal Section 103628.7 of the
Health and Safety Code, and to add and repeal Section 18309.1 of the
Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to domestic violence.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1127, as amended, Cooley. Domestic and family violence:
Sacramento County.
Existing law requires the collection of fees for issuing
marriage licenses and for providing certified copies of
vital records, including marriage certificates, birth certificates,
fetal death records, and death records. Existing law provides for the
establishment of county domestic violence program special funds for
the purpose of funding local domestic violence programs. Certain fees
payable at the time a marriage license or a certified copy of any of
the above vital records is issued may be collected by the county
clerks for deposit into these funds.
This bill would, until January 1, 2021, authorize the Sacramento
County Board of Supervisors, upon making certain findings and
declarations, to authorize an increase in fees for marriage
licenses and confidential marriage licenses and for
certified copies of certain vital records, up to $4. This bill would
further authorize the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors to make
further increases in fees each year, as specified. This bill would
require the fees to be allocated for purposes relating to domestic
and family violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution. This
bill would require the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, by
July 1, 2017, to submit a report on funds received and expended in
connection with the fee increases, and the outcome of activities
associated with the act, to the Assembly Committee on
Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Judiciary.
Legislature.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sacramento.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Since 2005, over 150 individuals have died in homicides
related to domestic violence. This number includes children, one as
young as two years old.
(b) In 2013 alone, a total of 18,000 domestic violence-related
calls were reported by law enforcement entities within Sacramento
County, with over 4,000 adult cases arrested and over 2,400 cases
filed and prosecuted.
(c) More than 21,000 crisis calls are made to the three domestic
violence shelter programs in Sacramento County every year.
(d) Domestic violence has many hidden costs. These costs include
exposing children to recruitment by human traffickers. Currently in
Sacramento, 76 percent of the children screened by the juvenile court
are found to be involved with, or vulnerable for recruitment to,
human trafficking have a family history with child protective
services, and 20 percent have an open case with child protective
services.
(d)
(e) Sacramento has a high rate of human trafficking,
and in 2013, the FBI Human trafficking task force, in a
multiday sweep involving Sacramento, rescued the sixth highest total
of underage trafficking victims in the country.
(e)
(f) Domestic violence is ubiquitous, it cuts across all
economic and education levels, all age groups, ethnicities, and
other social and community characteristics.
(f)
(g) Domestic violence is insidious, it is characterized
by a predictable, repetitious cycle that can result in injury or
death of victims, including children.
(g)
(h) Domestic violence puts children at risk. Children
in homes that domestic violence occurs are physically abused or
seriously neglected at a rate significantly higher than the national
average in the general population.
(h)
(i) Domestic violence is learned and generational.
Studies show that boys who witness family violence are more likely to
batter their female partners as adults than boys raised in
nonviolent homes. Girls who witness their mothers' abuse have higher
rates of being battered as adults and it is often a precursor to
becoming a victim of human trafficking. Over 80 percent of victims of
human trafficking either suffered abuse in their homes or witnessed
such abuse between parents.
(i)
(j) Substance abuse is a significant factor
contributing to, although not necessarily a cause of, domestic
violence. Many domestic violence offenders have documented histories
of substance abuse or were under the influence of drugs or alcohol at
the time a felony crime was committed. Over 80 percent of human
trafficking victims had parents that abused substances.
(j)
(k) Domestic violence is costly, both in human and
organizational terms. The results of domestic violence have many
hidden costs, such as job turnover, loss of productivity, school
absenteeism, low school performance, in addition to the high cost of
law enforcement, civil and criminal justice, health services, mental
health services, substance abuse treatment, human services, and
community-based services.
(k)
(l) The domestic violence prevention, intervention, and
prosecution system is complex and multifaceted, spanning civil,
criminal, health, and social service sectors, and in order to be
effective, there must be an alignment in the objectives, protocols,
policies, and activities of each sector.
SEC. 2. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Sacramento
County Zero Tolerance for Family Violence and Human Trafficking Act.
SEC. 3. Section 26840.12 is added to the
Government Code, to read:
26840.12. (a) The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, upon
making findings and declarations for the need for governmental
oversight and coordination of the multiple agencies dealing with
domestic violence, may authorize an increase in the fees for marriage
licenses and confidential marriage licences, up to a maximum
increase of four dollars ($4).
(b) Effective July 1 of each year, the Sacramento County Board of
Supervisors may authorize an increase in these fees by an amount
equal to the increase of the California Consumer Price Index for the
preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest one-half dollar
($0.50). These fees shall be allocated pursuant to Section 18309.7 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(c) In addition to the fee prescribed by Section 26840.1, in
Sacramento County, the person issuing authorization for the
performance of a marriage or confidential marriage, or the county
clerk upon providing a blank authorization form pursuant to Part 4
(commencing with Section 500) of Division 3 of the Family Code, shall
collect the fees in subdivision (a), at the time of providing the
authorization.
(d) The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors shall submit to the
Assembly Committee on Judiciary and the Senate Committee on
Judiciary, no later than July 1, 2017, a report containing the
following information:
(1) The annual amounts of funds received and expended from fee
increases for the purpose of governmental oversight and coordination
of domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution
efforts in the county.
(2) Outcomes achieved as a result of the activities associated
with the Zero Tolerance for Family Violence and Human Trafficking
Act.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends
that date.
SEC. 4. SEC. 3. Section 103628.7 is
added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
103628.7. (a) The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, upon
making findings and declarations for the need for governmental
oversight and coordination of the multiple agencies dealing with
domestic violence, may authorize an increase in the fees for
certified copies of marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal
death records, and death records, up to a maximum increase of
two four dollars ($2).
($4).
(b) Effective July 1 of each year, the Sacramento County Board of
Supervisors may authorize an increase in these fees by an amount
equal to the increase in the California Consumer Price Index for the
preceding calendar year, rounded to the nearest one-half dollar
($0.50). The fees shall be allocated pursuant to Section 18309.1 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(c) In addition to the fees prescribed by subdivisions
(a) and (b), any An applicant for a certified
copy of a marriage certificate, birth certificate, a fetal
death record, or death record in Sacramento County shall pay
an additional fee to the local registrar, county
recorder, or county clerk as the fees
established by the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors
pursuant to subdivisions (a) and b) .
(d) (1) The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors shall submit to
the Legislature, no later than July 1, 2017, a report containing the
following information:
(A) The total annual amount of funds received and expended from
fee increases for the purpose of governmental oversight and
coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention, and
prosecution efforts in the county.
(B) Outcomes achieved as a result of the activities associated
with the Sacramento County Zero Tolerance for Family Violence and
Human Trafficking Act.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(d)
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until
January 1, 2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or
extends that date.
SEC. 5. SEC. 4. Section 18309.1 is
added to the Welfare and Institutions Code, to read:
18309.1. (a) The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors shall
direct the local registrar, county recorder, and county clerk to
deposit fees collected pursuant to Section 26840.12 of the
Government Code and Section 103628.7 of the Health and
Safety Code into a special fund. The county may retain up to 4
percent of the fund for administrative costs associated with the
collection and segregation of the additional fees and the deposit of
these fees into the special fund. Proceeds from the fund shall be
used for governmental oversight and coordination of domestic violence
and family violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution
efforts among the court system, the district attorney's office, the
public defender's office, law enforcement, the probation department,
mental health, substance abuse, child welfare services, adult
protective services, and community-based organizations and other
agencies working in Sacramento County in order to increase the
effectiveness of prevention, early intervention, and prosecution of
domestic and family violence.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2021, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute
that is enacted before January 1, 2021, deletes or extends that
date.
SEC. 6. SEC. 5. The Legislature
finds and declares that a special law is necessary and that a general
law cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of
Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unique
circumstances of the County of Sacramento with respect to domestic
violence and human trafficking.