BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2839
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 19, 2016
Consultant: Matt Dean
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair
AB
2839 (Thurmond) - As Amended April 13, 2016
SUMMARY: Clarifies that when a criminal defendant is ordered
imprisoned for non-payment of a non-restitution criminal fine,
that only the base fine is used when determining the term of
imprisonment. Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits the term of imprisonment for nonpayment of a fine
from exceeding one day for each $125 of the base fine or the
term for which the defendant may be sentenced.
2)Specifies that all days that a defendant is in custody shall
be credited upon the defendant's term of imprisonment or
credited proportionally to any criminal base fine, excluding
restitution or restitution orders, at a rate of not less than
$125 per day.
3)States that any fees and assessments imposed on the base fine
shall be reduced proportionally to the reduction of the base
fine awarded as a result of custody credits.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Authorizes the court to incarcerate a defendant until an
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imposed criminal fine is satisfied, but limits such
imprisonment to the maximum term permitted for the particular
offense of conviction. (Pen. Code, § 1205, subd. (a).)
2)Requires that the time of imprisonment for failure to pay a
fine be calculated as no more than one day for every $125 of
the fine. (Pen. Code, § 1205, subd. (a).)
3)States that this provision applies to any violation of any of
the codes or statutes of the state which are punishable by a
fine or by a fine and imprisonment, but that it does not apply
to restitution fines or restitution orders. (Pen. Code, §
1205, subds. (c) & (f).)
4)Provides that all days spent in custody by the defendant must
first be applied to the term of imprisonment and then to any
fine including, but not limited to, base fines at the rate of
not less than $125 per day, or more, in the discretion of the
trial court. (Pen. Code, § 2900.5, subd. (a).)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement: According to the author, "Last year, the
Legislature unanimously approved AB1375 to help address the
excesses of the 'debt trap' faced by many defendant facing
small fines in criminal court. The bill called for an
inflationary adjustment from $30 to $125 per day to the rate
at which jail time offset assessed fines that the prisoner
could not pay. The purpose of the bill was to reduce the time
spent in jail by indigent defendants unable to pay small
fines.
"Unfortunately, in response, some courts have now changed their
method of calculating the fines against which the jail time is
offset. Where before the offset was applied to the base fine,
with penalties and assessments disregarded or reduced, these
courts now are applying the credit only after penalties and
assessments have been added. The net result in these courts is
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that indigent defendants now end up facing more jail time for
the same minor fine, rather than less.
"AB 2839 will address this issue by specifying that the credit
for jail time is to be applied to the base fine, not to the
fine enhanced by penalties and assessments."
2)Penal Code Section 1205: Pen. Code, § 1205 gives the court
power to enforce payment of fine in a criminal case by
imprisonment. However, 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. (In re Antazo (1970) 3 Cal.3d 100, 103-104.)
Pen. Code, § 1205 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. (Pen. Code, § 1205, subd. (f).)
3)Criminal Fine Increases: Criminal fines and penalties have
climbed steadily in recent decades. Government entities
tasked with collecting these fines have realized diminishing
returns from collection efforts. The San Francisco Daily
Journal noted, "California courts and counties collect nearly
$2 billion in fines and fees every year. Nevertheless, the
state still has a more than $10.2 billion balance of
uncollected debt from prior years, according to the most
recent date from 2012." (See Jones & Sugarman, State Judges
Bemoan Fee Collection Process, San Francisco Daily Journal,
(January 5, 2015).) "Felons convicted to prison time usually
can't pay their debts at all. The annual growth in delinquent
debt partly reflects a supply of money that doesn't exist to
be collected." (Ibid.) In the same article, the Presiding
Judge of San Bernardino County was quoted as saying "the whole
concept is getting blood out of a turnip." (Ibid.)
Considering that so many fines remain to be collected, it
seems unlikely that the reduction in collectable fines this
bill would create would actually impact revenues for the State
of California. Moreover, because some defendants choose to
convert their fines to time in custody, by requiring custody
credits be applied to the base fine, those defendants who
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choose to serve time in lieu of paying fines would be able to
serve less time in custody to satisfy payment of the criminal
fines in their judgment. It is unclear whether this would
reduce prison and jail populations, but it is possible this
would reduce those populations.
4)Purpose of Amendments: The amendments to this bill clarify
that fees and assessments are to be imposed on the base fine
as reduced by custody credits. Currently, courts impose fees
and assessments automatically in proportion to the base fine.
Existing law states that when incarcerated individuals receive
credit toward their criminal fines -excluding restitution
fines and orders-, those individuals receive not less than
$125 per day in custody. This bill would apply those custody
credits to the base fine, rather than the total of the base
fine with added fees and assessments. Because fees and
assessments are calculated proportionally to the base fine,
these amendments would reduce the total of the fines imposed
on defendants by reducing the base fine.
5)Argument in Support: According to the Conference of
California Bar Associations, "AB 2839 is follow-up legislation
to AB 1375 (Thurmond) of 2015, reaffirming that bill's intent
and invalidating its mis-implementation by at least one court.
AB 1375, which was approved unanimously by both houses,
amended Penal Code §§1205 and §2900.5 to increase the minimum
credit for incarceration towards paying off a criminal fine
from $30.00 per day to $125.00 per day. The intent of the
bill was to make it easier for poor defendants to satisfy the
burden of paying off ever-increasing fines by converting those
fines to jail time at a more reasonable rate, and to ease jail
overcrowding by enabling these poor defendants to satisfy
their debt and get our more quickly. The bill also was
intended to reduce costs, since counties end up paying the
costs of incarceration for these poor defendants.
"For forty years, California courts have calculated jail time
against the base fine, with penalties and assessments reduced
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proportionately. Unfortunately, in response to the change made
by AB 1375, some courts have changed their method of
calculating the fines against which the jail time is applied,
applying the credit only after penalties and assessments have
been added. In these courts, indigent defendants now face
more jail time for the same minor fine than they did before AB
1375, despite the legislation's clear intent. This also
increases jail overcrowding for minor offenses, and costs
counties more money in incarceration costs.
"AB 2839 would restore the "normal" calculation method in place
for the forty years before the passage of AB 1375, thereby
ensuring that the Legislature's intent in enacting the bill is
given effect, jail overcrowding is reduced, and local costs
are kept low."
6)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 1375 (Thurmond), Chapter 209, Statutes of 2015,
increased the rates to be applied, when a criminal
defendant is ordered imprisoned for non-payment of a
non-restitution criminal fine, from a credit of not less
than $30 to not less than $125 per day for each day served
pursuant to a judgment for non-payment of a criminal fine.
b) AB 1819 (Robert Pacheco), Chapter 62, Statutes of 2002,
authorized any county or court that implements a
comprehensive program to identify and collect delinquent
fines and forfeitures, with or without a warrant having
been issued against the alleged violator, if the base fines
and forfeitures are delinquent.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Civil Liberties Union
Conference of California Bar Associations
AB 2839
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Opposition
None
Analysis Prepared
by: Matt Dean / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744