SB 405, as amended, Hertzberg. Vehicles: infraction and misdemeanor violations: amnesty.
Existing law requires a county to establish a one-time amnesty program for fines and bail due on or before January 1, 2009, for certain infraction or misdemeanor violations of the Vehicle Code and the Penal Code. Existing law allows a person owing a fine or bail that was eligible for amnesty under this program to pay 50% of the total fine or bail, as defined, which is required to be accepted by the court in full satisfaction of the delinquent fine or bail. Under existing law, the amnesty program was operative from January 1, 2012, until June 30, 2012.
This bill would, until January 1, 2018,begin delete requireend deletebegin insert provide thatend insert a county that establishes an amnesty program
to allow a person owing a fine or bail that was due on or before January 1, 2013, to paybegin delete a specified percentage of the delinquent amount in full satisfaction of the fine or bail and to complyend deletebegin insert
either 20% of the delinquent amount owed, in full satisfaction of the fine or bail, if the person has income that does not exceed 125% of the federal poverty level or he or she is a recipient of any state or federal need-based assistance program, as specified, or 50% of the delinquent amount owed if he or she does not meet the above-described criteria. The bill would require a participant eligible to pay only 20% of the delinquent amount owed to declare, under penalty of perjury, that either his or her income does not exceed 125% of the federal poverty level or that he or she is a recipient of public assistance. The bill would also require a county that establishes an amnesty program to complyend insert with guidelines promulgated by the Judicial Council. The bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles to restore the driving privilege of a participant in the amnesty program whose driver’s license was suspended for failure to appear in court or failure to pay a fine or bail,
as specified. The bill would direct the Judicial Council to adopt guidelines for the amnesty program by March 1, 2016.begin insert The bill would require the Judicial Council to reimburse all costs, including personnel costs, incurred by the Department of Motor Vehicles associated with specified tasks, including posting on the department’s Internet Web site information regarding the amnesty program.end insert The bill would also require counties to file a report with the Judicial Council, for submission to the Legislature, regarding the number of cases resolved, the amount of money collected, and the operating costs of the amnesty program. The bill would state findings and declarations by the Legislature relative to these matters.begin delete By imposing these duties on counties,end deletebegin insert
By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury,end insert this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
end deleteThis bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.
end deleteThe California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
end insertbegin insertThis bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
end insertVote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
The Legislature finds and declares all of the
2following:
3(a) Driving in California is often described as a privilege, but
4for millions of Californians it is an economic necessity. Each day
5millions of Californians take to the road to go to work, drop off
6their children at school and activities, go shopping, and visit family.
7Without the ability to drive, millions of families cannot afford to
8pay the cost of housing, pay utilities, put food on the table, afford
9clothing for their children, or be able to save for retirement. In
10short, driving is a fundamental need of virtually every person in
11the state.
12(b) Unfortunately, millions of Californians have lost the ability
13to drive legally. Their driver’s licenses have been suspended, not
14because they are a danger to public safety, but because they could
15not pay fines associated with minor traffic tickets and other related
16fees and assessments. In the past five years, the Department of
17Motor Vehicles has suspended more than 2.7 million driver’s
18licenses for drivers’ failure to appear in court or failure to make
19payments ordered by a court. The Legislative Analyst’s Office
20reports that there is currently more than $10 billion in
21court-ordered, uncollected debt in California and $8 billion of this
22amount is for unpaid traffic violations.
23(c) For many families, a driver’s license suspension is the
24beginning of a descent into abject poverty for
which there is no
25escape. Legal services advocates report that once a person gets his
26or her driver’s license suspended in California, it is virtually
27impossible for the driver’s license to be restored until all the unpaid
28fees, fines, and assessments are completely paid. Many people
29with a suspended driver’s license are low income and can only
30pay the debt off a little at a time. Others are unemployed or on
31public assistance and cannot afford to make any payments. The
32State of New Jersey did a study of persons with suspended driver’s
33licenses and found that 42 percent lost their jobs after their driver’s
34licenses were suspended and less than one-half of them were able
35to find new jobs; 88 percent experienced a loss of income.
36(d) The original rationale for suspending driver’s licenses was
37to compel a person who had committed a serious public
safety
38violation to correct his or her behavior. This rationale over time
P4 1has been extended to hundreds of nonpublic safety violations. As
2a report by the American Association of Motor Vehicle
3Administrators (AAMVA), “Best Practices Guide to Reducing
4Suspended Drivers” notes, all 50 states now suspend driver’s
5licenses for nonhighway safety reasons. The AAMVA report
6recommends that states repeal laws that lead to driver’s license
7suspensions for nonpublic safety reasons and replace those
8suspensions with payment plans and wage garnishments to collect
9court-ordered debt.
Section 42008.8 is added to the Vehicle Code, to read:
(a) A county that establishes a one-time amnesty
12program for fines and bail shall conduct the program in accordance
13with guidelines provided by the Judicial Council. The guidelines
14shall be adopted by March 1, 2016. Until the guidelines are adopted
15by the Judicial Council, each program shall initially be conducted
16in accordance with the Judicial Council’s guidelines adopted
17pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 42008.7.
18(b) Unless agreed otherwise by the court and the county in
19writing, the government entities that are responsible for the
20collection of delinquent court-ordered debt shall be responsible
21for implementation of the amnesty program as to that debt,
22maintaining
the same division of responsibility in place with
23respect to the collection of court-ordered debt under subdivision
24(b) of Section 1463.010 of the Penal Code.
25(c) Commencing January 1, 2016, until January 1, 2018, each
26amnesty program shall accept, in full satisfaction of any eligible
27fine or bail, of which the due date for payment was on or before
28January 1, 2013, the following amounts:
29(1) Eighty percent of the fine or bail if the person has income
30that exceeds 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
31(2) Fifty percent of the fine or bail if the person has income that
32is greater than 150 percent of, but no more than 200 percent of,
33the federal poverty level.
34(3)
end delete
35begin insert(1)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insert(A)end insertbegin insert end insertTwenty percent of the fine or bail if the person has
36income thatbegin delete is no more than 150end deletebegin insert does not exceed 125end insert percent of
37the federal povertybegin delete level.end deletebegin insert
level, or the person is a recipient of any
38of the state or federal need-based assistance programs described
39in subdivision (a) of Section 68632 of the Government Code.end insert
P5 1(B) Each participant under this paragraph shall declare, under
2penalty of perjury, that either his or her income does not exceed
3125 percent of the federal poverty level or that he or she is a
4recipient of public assistance under one or more of the programs
5described in subdivision (a) of Section 68632 of the Government
6Code.
7(2) Fifty percent of the fine or bail if the person is not described
8in paragraph (1).
9(d) Nothing in this section shall limit the court’s ability to issue
10an
earning withholdings order as described in Chapter 5
11(commencing with Section 706.101) of Division 2 of Title 9 of
12Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure or to order the person to
13perform community services in lieu of paying the amounts
14specified in subdivision (c).
15(e) The department shall restore the driving privilege of a
16participant in the amnesty program whose driver’s license was
17suspended pursuant to Section 13365.
18(f) The department shall provide a notice to each person whose
19driver’s license has been suspended pursuant to Section 13365
20regarding his or her potential eligibility for the amnesty program.
21The notice shall be provided in the languages specified in
22subdivision (b) of Section 1632 of the Civil Code.
23(f) The Judicial Council shall reimburse all costs, including
24personnel costs, incurred by the department associated with both
25of the following:
26(1) Providing on a separate insert with each motor vehicle
27registration renewal notice a summary of the amnesty program
28established pursuant to this section.
29(2) Posting on the department’s Internet Web site information
30regarding the amnesty program.
31(g) No criminal action shall be brought against a person for a
32delinquent fine or bail paid under the amnesty
program.
33(h) Each court or county implementing an amnesty program
34shall file, not later than one year after establishing the program, a
35written report with the Judicial Council, on a form approved by
36the Judicial Council. The report shall include information about
37the number of cases resolved, the amount of money collected, and
38the operating costs of the amnesty program. The Judicial Council
39shall submit a report to the Legislature summarizing the
40information provided by each court or county. The report shall be
P6 1submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government
2Code.
3(i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2018,
4and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
5is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or
extends that date.
If the Commission on State Mandates determines that
7this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to
8local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made
9pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division
104 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
12Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
13the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
14district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
15infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
16for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
17the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
18the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
19Constitution.
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