BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1375
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Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
1375 (Thurmond) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill increases the statutory rate for credit for fines
through incarceration, in lieu of paying a fine, from not less
than $30 per day to not less than $125 per day.
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FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Unknown savings to counties by reducing the time served in
county jail. For example, if the average cost to house
someone in jail is $100/day, a $300 base fine could be paid in
3 days, instead of 10 days.
2)Unknown revenue loss to the state (GF) and local agencies if
more individuals opt for jail time than to pay the base fine.
Penalties, assessments, and restitutions are not impacted by
AB 1375.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, "AB 1375 will bring equity
to an unfair situation that has been getting worse with each
passing year, by making the first increase in the dollar
amount of credit incarcerated prisoners receive against fines
imposed since the law was enacted in 1976. In that time, the
minimum wage has increased by over 600% and the total fines,
with penalties and assessments, of typical infractions has
increased similarly - to over 475% for running a red light and
more than 800% for travelling 15 miles over the speed limit.
The failure to adjust the rate of credit hurts poor defendants
far more than better-off defendants, increasing anger and
resentment at the inequity. The inability of an increasing
number of defendants to pay the fine outright also increases
jail overcrowding and adds to the burden on the taxpayers,
since the costs of incarceration are substantially more than
the value of the fines imposed."
2)Background. Current law gives the court power to enforce
payment of fine in criminal case by imprisonment. However,
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imprisonment pending payment of a fine is unconstitutional as
applied to a convicted indigent defendant if the failure to
pay is due to indigence and not to willfulness. This law is
also used by defendants as a vehicle to request that the trial
court exercise its discretion to convert fines to jail time.
However, the statute cannot be used to pay off restitution
fines or victim restitution orders.
3)Argument in Support: According to the Conference of
California Bar Associations, the sponsor of this bill, "Under
existing law, a criminal defendant may choose or be ordered to
serve jail time in lieu of paying a criminal fine, or he or
she may be allowed to credit time spent incarcerated against
the payment of a fine. The minimum rate of credit is $30.00
per day of incarceration - an amount that was set in 1976 and
has not been adjusted since. In almost all California
counties, this "minimum" has since become the actual amount
credited.
"When this law was enacted, $30.00 was equivalent to working 12
hours at a minimum wage job ($1.50/hour). On January 1, 2016,
the minimum wage in California will increase to be
$10.00/hour, meaning that the same 12-hour day should be worth
$120 - essentially the amount provided by AB 1375. By another
measure, $30.00 in 1976 had the same buying power as $125.00
in 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
4)Prior Legislation: SB 1371 (Anderson), Chapter 49, Statutes
of 2012, prohibits a defendant from satisfying an order to pay
direct restitution to a victim, a restitution fine, or both,
through time spent in custody at the statutory rate of $30 per
day.
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Analysis Prepared by:Pedro R. Reyes / APPR. / (916)
319-2081