BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2882 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 5, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY Mark Stone, Chair AB 2882 (Judiciary) - As Amended March 29, 2016 SUBJECT: FAMILY LAW KEY ISSUE: TO IMPROVE THE HANDLING OF FAMILY LAW MATTERS, SHOULD THE LEGISLATURE RATIFY THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL'S CONVERSION OF 10 SUBORDINATE JUDICIAL OFFICER POSITIONS TO JUDGES FOR FAMILY AND JUVENILE PROCEEDINGS AND MAKE OTHER TECHNICAL AND CLARIFYING CHANGES TO MARRIAGE ESTABLISHMENT, ADOPTION AND CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS? SYNOPSIS This bill is the Committee's annual omnibus family law bill. It makes a number of non-controversial changes to family law in California, including allowing conversions of subordinate judicial officer positions to judges, allowing formerly incarcerated child support obligors to petition a court to suspend arrears that had previously accrued during a now-sunsetted pilot program, and updating and making technical corrections to marriage establishment, adoption, and Department of Child Support Services enforcement provisions. There is no known opposition. SUMMARY: Seeks to improve the handling of family law issues in AB 2882 Page 2 California. Specifically, this bill among other things: 1)Ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to convert 10 subordinate judicial officer positions to judgeships in 2016-17, provided the conversion of these positions will result in judges being assigned to family or juvenile law assignments previously presided over by a subordinate judicial officer. Provides that this authority is in addition to the existing authority provided to convert 16 SJOs to judges. 2)Allows prospective spouses to combine their last names into a new last name that is more than one word, without the need to hyphenate the names. 3)If a marriage license is lost or damaged before it is returned to the county recorder, allows a duplicate license to be issued and returned by the person who solemnized the marriage for up to one year from the date of the marriage. 4)Allows a petitioner, seeking to adopt a dependent child who has been freed for adoption by the juvenile court and placed with that petitioner, to file the adoption request either in the county where that petitioner resides or the county where the child was freed for adoption. 5)Allows a person, who previously accrued child support arrears between July 1, 2011 and July 1, 2015 and who was eligible for an adjustment of those arrears because of incarceration or institutionalization during that period, based on a previously existing provision of law, to petition the court to adjust those arrears pursuant to that then-existing provision. 6)Requires a private adoption agency, when accepting a child AB 2882 Page 3 voluntarily relinquished for adoption to file or allow another party to file with the court, within 10 court days, the original and five copies of the request to approve the relinquishment. 7)Removes an outdated reference to the Franchise Tax Board from various provisions of the state child support enforcement statutes that the Department of Child Support Services is charged with overseeing. 8)Eliminates Welfare & Institutions provisions regarding development of the child support automation system, which has now been fully implemented. 9)Makes other technical and conforming changes, including moving provisions of the Welfare & Institutions Code relevant to the child support enforcement program to the Family Code. EXISTING LAW: 1)Provides that the Legislature shall prescribe the number of judges and provide for the officers and employees of each superior court. Provides that the Legislature may allow the trial courts to appoint officers such as commissioners to perform subordinate judicial duties. (California Constitution, Article VI, Sections 4, 22.) 2)Authorizes the courts to appoint subordinate judicial officers, and sets forth their duties and titles. (Government Code Section 71622.) 3)Authorizes the conversion of 16 subordinate judicial officer AB 2882 Page 4 positions in eligible superior courts to judgeships each fiscal year as specified. Authorizes the Judicial Council to convert up to an additional 10 SJOs to judgeships each year, upon vacancy and subsequent legislative authorization, if the conversion of these additional positions will result in judges being assigned to family or juvenile law assignments previously presided over by subordinate judicial officers, but requires that such authority be ratified by the Legislature by statutory enactment. (Government Code Sections 69615-19.) 4)Allows prospective spouses to combine their last names into a new last name that is more than one word, but those names must be hyphenated. (Family Code Section 306.5.) 5)If a marriage license is lost or damaged before it is returned to the county recorder, allows a duplicate license to be issued and returned by the person who solemnized the marriage up to one year from the issuance of the original license. (Family Code Section 308.) 6)Provides, from January 1, 2016 until January 1, 2020, that the obligation to pay child support is suspended for the period of time in which the obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, as defined, for any period exceeding 90 consecutive days, unless the obligor has the means to pay support while incarcerated or institutionalized or was incarcerated for any domestic violence offense or as a result of failure to pay child support. Allows support to be administratively suspended. Previously provided for a similar pilot suspension program for the four-year period July 1, 2011 to July 1, 2015, although support had to be suspended by the court. (Family Code Sections 4007.5.) 7)Allows a person seeking to adopt a dependent child who has been freed for adoption by the juvenile court to file the AB 2882 Page 5 adoption request either in the county where that person resides or the county where the child was freed for adoption. (Family Code Section 8714.) 8)Requires a private adoption agency, when accepting a child voluntarily relinquished for adoption, within five court days, to file with the court the original and 10 copies of the request to approve the relinquishment. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 361.) 9)Makes the Franchise Tax Board responsible for various provisions of the state child support enforcement program for which the Department of Child Support Services is the single state agency charged with overseeing. (Family Code Sections 17306, 17400, 17458, 17506, 17508, 17522.5, 17801, 17802.) 10)Sets forth the process, rules and funding for development of the California Child Support Automation System, which was fully implemented in November, 2008. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 10080 et seq.) 11)Sets out the duties of the Department of Social Services and local child support agencies regarding the state child support plan and the child support disregard. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 11475.2 et seq.) 12)Sets out rules governing the operation of the Statewide Child Support Registry of all child support orders in California. (Welfare & Institutions Code Section 16575 et seq.) FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal. AB 2882 Page 6 COMMENTS: This bill is the Committee's annual omnibus family law bill. It makes a number of non-controversial changes to family law in California, including allowing conversions of subordinate judicial officer positions to judges, allowing formerly incarcerated child support obligors to petition a court to suspend arrears that previously accrued during a now-sunsetted pilot program, and updating and making technical corrections to marriage establishment, adoption, and Department of Child Support Services enforcement provisions. Subordinate Judicial Officer Conversions: This bill seeks to improve family and juvenile law cases by ratifying the Judicial Council's authority to convert 10 SJOs to judgeships in 2016-17, provided the conversion of these positions will result in a judge being assigned to a family or juvenile law assignment previously presided over by a subordinate judicial officer. This will increase the likelihood that these matters will be presided over by judges and not subordinate judicial officers. According to the Judicial Council, historically SJO positions were created and funded at the county level to address courts' needs for judicial-like resources when new judgeships were pending or not yet authorized by the Legislature. Unlike judges, SJOs are not directly accountable to the public, but due to the shortages of judges, are performing some of the most complex and sensitive judicial duties. Conversion of these positions to judgeships when they become vacant makes them more accountable to the public and, the Judicial Council contends, helps provide better trust and confidence in the courts. In 2007, AB 159 (Jones), Chap. 722, was enacted to address a severe shortage in the number of trial court judgeships. At that time, the Judicial Council noted potentially serious consequences flowing from this deficiency in judicial resources, including a significant decrease in Californians' access to the courts, compromised public safety, an unstable business climate, AB 2882 Page 7 and enormous backlogs in some courts that inhibit fair, timely and equitable justice. That bill, in addition to authorizing 50 additional judges, authorized the conversion of 162 SJOs, upon vacancy, to judgeships to utilize the judicial resources more efficiently and properly limit SJOs to subordinate judicial duties. The stated findings and declarations supporting the legislation included the following: It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this section to restore an appropriate balance between subordinate judicial officers and judges in the trial courts by providing for the conversion, as needed, of subordinate judicial officer positions to judgeships in courts that assign subordinate judicial officers to act as temporary judges. The Legislature finds that these positions must be converted to judgeships in order to ensure that critical case types, including family, probate, and juvenile law matters, can be heard by judges. (Government Code Section 69615.) In 2002 the Judicial Council identified family and juvenile law matters among those that are of such a nature as to require judges, rather than SJOs, to preside over them whenever possible. This Council policy has been echoed repeatedly. Among its many recommendations, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care recommended that "[c]onsistent with Judicial Council policy, judges-not subordinate judicial officers-hear dependency and delinquency cases. Pending a full transition from subordinate judicial officers to judges (through reassignment or conversion of subordinate judicial officer positions to judgeships), presiding judges should continue the assignment of well-qualified and experienced subordinate judicial officers to juvenile court." Recognizing the particular need for judges in family and juvenile law cases, AB 2763 (Judiciary), Chap. 690, Stats. 2010, AB 2882 Page 8 authorized the Judicial Council to convert up to an additional 10 SJOs to judgeships each year, if the conversion of these additional positions will result in a judge being assigned to a family or juvenile law assignment previously presided over by an SJO. However, such authorization must be ratified by the Legislature. This was done by the Legislature in 2015-16 (AB 1519 (Judiciary), Chap. 416, Stats. 2015), in 2014-15 (AB 2745 (Judiciary), Chap. 311, Stats. 2014), in 2013-14 (AB 1403 (Judiciary), Chap. 510, Stats. 2013) and in 2011-12 (SB 405 (Corbett), Chap. 705, Stats. 2011). This bill seeks to provide the Judicial Council with that same ratification for 2016-17. Judicial Council supports this portion of the bill. Child Support Arrears Suspension for Incarcerated Obligors - Previous Program: When noncustodial parents are incarcerated, unless they seek a modification of their child support order, their support obligation continues unabated, and interest accrues on the unpaid debt. According to a study of California's child support caseload by the Urban Institute, only about half of incarcerated child support obligors had reported incomes in the two years prior to their incarceration. (Elaine Sorensen, Examining Child Support Arrears in California: The Collectibility Study, Urban Institute (March 2003).) Of those, their median annual net income was just under $3,000, and their median arrears were $14,564. Researchers have discovered that the build-up of uncollectible child support while an obligor is incarcerated has implications not just for the obligor, but also for the state and the family. A just-released obligor, with a large support debt and few employment prospects, is far more likely to avoid the formal economy and, therefore, pay no child support and have little or no contact with his or her children. In addition, the failure to collect ongoing child support will result in the state receiving less incentive funding from the federal government. Finally, recidivism rates appear to increase for obligors with large child support debts. In an effort to address these negative impacts, the Legislature AB 2882 Page 9 approved SB 1355 (Wright), Chap. 495, Stats. 2010, which created a pilot program to suspend the obligation to pay child support, for child support obligors in the state child support program, for the period of time in which the obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, unless the obligor otherwise has the means to pay support. Upon release, the obligation to pay child support immediately resumes to the amount specified in the child support order prior to the suspension of that obligation. That pilot program, which began on July 1, 2011, sunsetted on July 1, 2015; and a new pilot was created beginning January 1, 2016 by AB 610 (Jones-Sawyer), Chap. 629, Stats. 2015. However when the new pilot was created, the old pilot was no longer in the codes, so that obligors who had debt that accrued under the time period, terms and conditions of the old program could no longer use it to suspend their uncollectable debt. This bill revises the statutory reference to the expired program so that child support that occurred when an obligor was incarcerated during the time period of the previous pilot -- July 1, 2011 through July 1, 2015 -- may still be suspended under the terms and conditions of the then-existing pilot. This does not in any way expand the program; it simply ensures that those who had arrears accrue during the program may still petition the court to suspend the arrears that accrued then, provided they meet all of the requirements of that program. Minor Updates in Marriage Establishment Procedures: The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials has identified several marriage establishment statutes that require clarification and updating, including a provision requiring that spouses who want to combine last names must today either hyphenate or combine their last names in a single name, and a statutory reference to a health certificate that is no longer required in order to get married. This bill makes those updates AB 2882 Page 10 and technical corrections. Minor Updates in Adoption Procedures: The Academy of California Adoption Lawyers has identified several adoption statutes that require clarification and updating, including a statute regarding venue options for petitioners who are seeking to adopt children freed for adoption by the juvenile court and a statute that makes it unnecessarily difficult to file a voluntary relinquishment of a child with the court. This bill makes those updates and statutory improvements. Technical Corrections for the Department of Child Support Services: The Department of Child Support Services has identified numerous child support enforcement statutes have not been updated in years and contain out-of-date and inapplicable references and code sections, including references to an outdated automation system, organizations that no longer exist, and an enhanced role for the Franchise Tax Board that no longer exists. This bill makes those updates and statutory corrections. REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION: Support None on file AB 2882 Page 11 Opposition None on file Analysis Prepared by:Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334