BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2839| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2839 Author: Thurmond (D) Amended: 4/13/16 in Assembly Vote: 21 SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/28/16 AYES: Hancock, Anderson, Glazer, Leno, Liu, Monning, Stone SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Criminal penalties: nonpayment of fines SOURCE: Conference of California Bar Associations DIGEST: This bill clarifies that when a criminal defendant is ordered imprisoned for non-payment of a non-restitution criminal fine, only the base fine is used when determining the term of imprisonment. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Authorizes the court to incarcerate a defendant until an imposed criminal fine is satisfied, but limits such imprisonment to the maximum term permitted for the particular offense of conviction. (Penal Code § 1205 (a).) AB 2839 Page 2 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. (Penal Code § 1205 (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. (Penal Code § 1205 (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. (Penal Code § 2900.5. (a).) 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. Background The Conference of California Bar Associations, the sponsor of this bill, states: 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 AB 2839 Page 3 $125.00 per day. The intent of the bill was to make it easier for poor defendants charged with minor offenses to ease 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 low-income defendants to satisfy their debt more quickly. The bill was also intended to reduce incarceration costs, since counties end up paying significant amounts of money to incarcerate non-violent, poor defendants, jailed only for non-payment of debt. For forty years, California courts have calculated jail credits against the base fine, with penalties and assessments reduced 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 by applying credits 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. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No According to the Senate Appropriations Committee analysis: County jails: Potentially significant reduction in local incarceration costs (Local Funds) due to shorter lengths of stay required for persons incarcerated for the nonpayment of fines. Penalty assessment/surcharge revenue: Potentially significant reduction in local penalty assessment, state penalty AB 2839 Page 4 assessment, special fund assessment, and state surcharge revenues (Local Fund/General Fund/Special Funds) due to the mandated proportional reduction in penalties and assessments applied against the amount of base fines that have been served through time served. The magnitude of foregone revenue would be dependent on numerous factors, including but not limited to the number of defendants electing to serve time in lieu of payment of fines, and the ability to collect the penalties and assessments had they been imposed on the defendant in the absence of this measure. SUPPORT: (Verified8/12/16) Conference of California Bar Associations (source) Legal Services for Prisoners with Children California Public Defenders Association OPPOSITION: (Verified8/12/16) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon NO VOTE RECORDED: Burke, Jones-Sawyer Prepared by:Mary Kennedy / PUB. S. / 8/15/16 19:40:00 AB 2839 Page 5 **** END ****