BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2882
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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,
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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,
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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
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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
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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
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Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334