BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2882|
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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.)
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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.)
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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
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