BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 881| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 881 Author: Hertzberg (D) Amended: 8/24/16 Vote: 21 PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 10-0, 8/31/16 AYES: Beall, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 8/30/16 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Vehicles: violations: payment of fines and bail SOURCE: American Civil Liberties Union of California Western Center on Law and Poverty DIGEST: This bill modifies the traffic amnesty program, which assists individuals who have had their driver's license suspended due to failure to pay traffic fines. Assembly Amendments delete the Senate version of this bill and instead require the court, when required to issue and file a certificate with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) regarding an individual who has satisfied the requirements of the amnesty program, to do so within 90 days; require the court, for applications submitted prior to January 1, 2017, that are still outstanding as of that date, to issue and file certificates no later than March 31, 2017; provide that for applications submitted on or before March 31, 2017, all terms SB 881 Page 2 and procedures related to the participant's payment plans shall remain in effect after that date; and require an individual to file a request with the court by March 31, 2017, in order to be eligible for amnesty. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Authorizes a court to notify the state DMV when an individual fails to pay a traffic fine (FTP), fails to appear in court (FTA), or fails to comply with a court order (FTC). Existing law requires the court to notify the DMV if the individual later pays the fine. 2)Requires the court, when an individual appears before a traffic referee or superior court judge regarding a traffic offense, to consider the individual's ability to pay if he or she so requests. 3)Prohibits the DMV from issuing or renewing a license for an individual when: a) A license previously issued to the individual has been suspended, until the end of the suspension period, unless the cause for the suspension has been removed. b) A license previously issued to the individual has been revoked, until one year after the date of revocation, unless a different period of revocation has been prescribed or the cause for revocation has been removed. c) The DMV has received a notice from the court of an FTP or FTA. SB 881 Page 3 d) The individual's driving record shows two or more FTPs and/or FTAs, until all FTPs and FTAs have been reported to DMV as cleared or adjudicated. 1)Requires DMV to suspend the driver's license of an individual when DMV receives a notice from the court of an FTP or FTA for that individual, until the individual's driving record is cleared. This bill: 1)Requires a court, when notifying the DMV that an individual with a suspended license has appeared in court, paid the fine, or otherwise satisfied the requirements of the amnesty program, to do so within 90 days. 2)Requires a court, for amnesty applications submitted prior to January 1, 2017 that are still outstanding as of that date, to notify the DMV no later than March 31, 2017, of individuals who have satisfied the requirements of the program. 3)Provides, for applications submitted on or before March 31, 2017, that all terms and procedures related to the participant's payment plans shall remain in effect after March 31, 2017. 4)Requires an individual to file a request with the court by March 31, 2017, in order to be eligible for the amnesty program. Background SB 881 Page 4 The state Judicial Council annually adopts a uniform traffic penalty schedule for all non-parking infractions outlined in the Vehicle Code. Due to additional surcharges, penalties, and assessments, a base fine of $100, for example, results in a total fine of $541. For many individuals, a traffic violation can become prohibitively expensive and can lead to a suspended driver's license. To address this concern, the 2015-16 Budget agreement authorized an 18-month traffic amnesty program for delinquent debt. Under this program, the $300 civil assessment imposed by collection programs for an FTA or FTP is waived. Individuals then receive a 50% reduction in the total amount of court-ordered debt owed for traffic infractions and certain traffic misdemeanors as long as specified criteria are met. In addition, participants in the amnesty program, as well as individuals currently making payments for the same violations included in the amnesty program, can have their driver's licenses reinstated. Moreover, SB 405 (Hertzberg, Chapter 385, Statutes of 2015) required courts to allow individuals to schedule court proceedings even if bail or civil assessment has been imposed. Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) recommendations. The LAO issued a report in January 2016 titled "Improving California's Criminal Fine and Fee System." In it, the LAO identified a number of problems, such as the fact that the complexity and piecemeal nature of the system makes it difficult to control the use of fine and fee revenues and to distribute revenue accurately. The LAO made two major recommendations. First, the Legislature should re-evaluate the structure of the system, giving consideration to system goals, ability to pay, consequences for failure to pay, and whether fines and fees should be adjusted. Second, the Legislature should increase legislative control of criminal fine and fee expenditures by depositing most revenue in the General Fund; consolidating most fines and fees; evaluating existing programs supported by the revenues; and mitigating impacts on local government. Comments 5)New bill. When this bill left the Senate, it focused on SB 881 Page 5 eliminating suspension of driver's licenses as a means of collecting court-ordered debt associated with non-safety traffic offenses. After passing out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, it was gutted and amended based on negotiations between the author, sponsors, Administration, and Judicial Council, to instead make several changes to the existing traffic amnesty program. According to the Western Center on Law and Poverty (WCLP), co-sponsor of this bill, "While all parties remain committed to resolving the issue of license suspensions for minor traffic tickets, the Administration prefers a 'global' solution that will ensure justice for those losing their licenses and a reliable revenue system for the courts of California." 6)Traffic amnesty program will expire in seven months. The author added a provision to this bill on August 15, 2016, to extend the traffic amnesty program, which currently expires on March 1, 2017, to December 31, 2017, in hopes of continuing the program while the "global solution" referenced in Comment 1) above could be developed and implemented. This provision, however, was removed on August 19, 2016, due to cost concerns raised by the Judicial Council. Thus, the traffic amnesty program will sunset on March 31, 2017, pursuant to existing law. WCLP states that "we have agreed to work with the Administration and the Judicial Council to fashion a solution that will be comprehensive and long-lasting." 7)Addressing program issues. WCLP states that the traffic amnesty program established in last year's budget "was silent on several important subjects that have become problematic during its implementation." This bill addresses those issues as follows: provides direction to the courts on how quickly applications for amnesty must be transmitted to DMV; clarifies that any application submitted on or before March 31, 2017, must be processed under the same terms of amnesty; and ensures that the terms and procedures of installment agreements entered into by March 31, 2017, will be honored after the amnesty programs ends. Related/Prior Legislation SB 405 (Hertzberg, Chapter 385, Statutes of 2015) required SB 881 Page 6 courts to allow individuals to schedule court proceedings, even if bail or civil assessment has been imposed, and clarified the traffic amnesty program. SB 85 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, Chapter 26, Statutes of 2015) authorized an 18-month traffic amnesty program, beginning October 1, 2015, for delinquent debt. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, unknown one-time net revenue gain during extended amnesty period and longer term loss of revenue from reduced collections. SUPPORT: (Verified8/26/16) American Civil Liberties Union of California (co-source) Western Center on Law and Poverty (co-source) A New Way of Life Reentry Project East Bay Community Law Center Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area Legal Services for Prisoners with Children OPPOSITION (Verified 8/26/16) None received ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: A coalition of supporters of this bill state that "this highly successful amnesty program has restored driver's licenses to more than 100,000 Californians and has allowed the courts to resolve more than 132,000 delinquent debt cases in just the first seven months of the program." To help ensure that all eligible Californians can receive the benefits of the program before it expires, this bill ensures that all amnesty applications filed by March 31, 2017, will be processed and that starting January 1, 2017, the courts must process these SB 881 Page 7 applications within 90 days. ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 8/30/16 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, 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:Erin Riches / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121 8/31/16 16:10:33 **** END ****