BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2882| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 2882 Author: Committee on Judiciary Amended: 8/16/16 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/21/16 AYES: Jackson, Moorlach, Anderson, Hertzberg, Leno, Monning, Wieckowski SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/11/16 AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/31/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Judiciary omnibus: family law SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill makes various changes to the Family Code. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Provides that the Legislature shall prescribe the number of judges and provide for the officers and employees of each superior court, and that the Legislature may allow the trial courts to appoint officers such as commissioners to perform subordinate judicial duties. (Cal. Const., art. VI, Secs. 4, 22.) AB 2882 Page 2 2)Authorizes the courts to appoint subordinate judicial officers (SJOs), and sets forth their duties and titles. (Gov. Code Sec. 71622.) 3)Authorizes the conversion of 16 SJO positions in eligible superior courts to judgeships each fiscal year, as specified, and 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 SJOs, but requires that such authority be ratified by the Legislature by statutory enactment. (Gov. Code Secs. 69615-19.) This bill ratifies the authority of the Judicial Council to convert 10 SJO 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 SJO, and provides that this authority is in addition to the existing authority provided to convert 16 SJOs to judges. Existing law 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. (Fam. Code Sec. 306.5.) This bill allows prospective spouses to combine their last names into a new last name that is more than one word, without the need to hyphenate. Existing law provides that if a marriage license is lost or damaged before it is returned to the county recorder, a duplicate license may be issued and returned by the person who solemnized the marriage up to one year from the issuance of the original license. (Fam. Code Sec. 360.) AB 2882 Page 3 This bill instead provides that a duplicate license shall be issued within one year from the marriage. Existing law allows a person seeking to adopt a dependent child who has been freed for adoption by the juvenile court to file the adoption request either in the county where that person resides or the county where the child was freed for adoption. (Fam. Code Sec. 8714.) This bill 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. Existing law 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. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 361.) This bill requires a private adoption agency, when accepting a child 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. Existing law 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. (Fam. Code Secs. 17306, 17400, 17458, 17506, 17508, 17522.5, 17801, 17802.) This bill removes an outdated reference to the Franchise Tax AB 2882 Page 4 Board from various provisions of the state child support enforcement statutes that the Department of Child Support Services is charged with overseeing. Existing law: 1)Sets forth the process, rules and funding for development of the California Child Support Automation System, which was fully implemented in November, 2008. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 10080 et seq.) 2)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. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 11475.2 et seq.) 3)Eestablishes rules governing the operation of the Statewide Child Support Registry of all child support orders in California. (Welf. & Inst. Code Sec. 16575 et seq.) This bill eliminates Welfare and Institutions provisions regarding development of the child support automation system, which has now been fully implemented. This bill makes other technical and conforming changes, including updating cross references and moving provisions of the Welfare and Institutions Code relevant to the child support enforcement program to the Family Code. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: No AB 2882 Page 5 According to the Senate Appropriations Committee: SJO conversion: Annual costs of about $300,000 (General Fund*) for the conversion of 10 SJOs to judgeships, based on the salary and benefit differential of the two positions. The Judicial Council has indicated these costs will be funded through the reallocation of funds in the Trial Court Trust Fund. *Trial Court Trust Fund SUPPORT: (Verified8/15/16) Judicial Council of California OPPOSITION: (Verified8/15/16) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The author writes: The Judicial Council has identified family and juvenile law cases as among those most important for judges, rather than SJOs, to preside over. Unlike judges, SJOs are not directly accountable to the public. Unfortunately, due to the shortages of judges, SJOs today are performing some of the most complex and sensitive judicial duties, including presiding over family and juvenile law matters. Conversion of these positions to judgeships when they become vacant makes them both more accountable to the public and helps provide better trust and confidence in the courts. This bill permits AB 2882 Page 6 the Judicial Council to convert 10 SJO positions to judges if and only if the conversions results in judges being assigned to a family or juvenile law assignment that were previously presided over by SJOs. This will improve justice in family and juvenile law cases by increasing the likelihood that these matters are presided over by judges and not subordinate judicial officers." The California Association of Clerks and Elections Officials has identified several marriage establishment statutes that should be clarified and updated, 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 and technical corrections. 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. The Academy of California Adoption Lawyers has identified several adoption statutes that should be clarified and updated, 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. ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/31/16 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, AB 2882 Page 7 Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, 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 Prepared by:Nichole Rapier / JUD. / (916) 651-4113 8/16/16 17:33:38 **** END ****