BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1054 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 1054 (Pavley) As Amended August 1, 2016 Majority vote SENATE VOTE: 39-0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ |Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Public Safety |7-0 |Jones-Sawyer, | | | | |Melendez, Lackey, | | | | |Lopez, Low, Quirk, | | | | |Santiago | | | | | | | |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------| |Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | | | | |Bloom, Bonilla, | | | | |Bonta, Calderon, | | | | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | | | | |Gallagher, Eduardo | | | | |Garcia, Holden, | | | | |Jones, Obernolte, | | | | |Quirk, Santiago, | | | | |Wagner, Weber, Wood, | | | | |Chau | | | | | | | SB 1054 Page 2 | | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUMMARY: Clarifies the collection process for fines and restitution by county collection agencies, and mitigates issues of duplicate collection. Specifically, this bill: 1)Authorizes the agency designated to collect restitution fines and orders from sentenced felony jail inmates to retain an administrative fee to cover the actual costs of collection up to 10% of monies collected, rather than a flat 10% of the monies collected. 2)Clarifies that the agency designated by the county to collect restitution fines and orders from sentenced felony jail inmates may retain the administrative fee at the time the restitution order or fine is collected. 3)Provides that if a county agency has been designated to collect restitution orders from sentenced felony jail inmates, persons on post-release community supervision (PRCS) or mandatory supervision, and the county agency objects to referral of the order to Franchise Tax Board (FTB) for collection, neither California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) nor the county shall refer the order to FTB. 4)Provides that the victim entitled to the restitution may designate the agency that will collect the restitution. 5)Makes technical, non-substantive changes. SB 1054 Page 3 EXISTING LAW: 1)Authorizes the CDCR to collect restitution fines and restitution orders from prisoners. 2)Allows the Secretary of CDCR to collect money from parolees with an outstanding balance on a restitution fine or a victim restitution order. 3)Requires CDCR to withhold an administrative fee totaling 10% of money collected from the prisoner or parolee to be held in a special deposit account for the purposes of reimbursing administrative and support costs of the restitution program. 4)Authorizes the agency designated by the board of supervisors in the county of incarceration to deduct 20% to 50% from the wages and trust account deposits of a county-jail inmate serving a sentence under realignment and owing a restitution fine or restitution order. 5)Allows the agency designated by the board of supervisors in the county of incarceration to withhold an administrative fee totaling 10% of money collected to be held in a special deposit account for the purposes of reimbursing administrative and support costs of the restitution program, as specified. 6)Allows the agency designated by the board of supervisors to collect money from inmates released from jail after serving a sentencing under realignment who has an outstanding balance on a restitution fine or a victim restitution order. 7)Authorizes the agency designated by the board of supervisors to collect unsatisfied restitutions fines and victim restitution order from persons released on Post-Release SB 1054 Page 4 Community Supervision (PRCS) or mandatory supervision. 8)Gives the board of supervisors discretion to impose an administrative fee not to exceed 10% of the amount collected, the proceeds of which shall be deposited into the county's general fund. 9)Requires the Judicial Council to adopt guidelines for a comprehensive program concerning the collection of moneys owed for fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments imposed by court order. 10)Specifies that a restitution order is enforceable as a civil judgment. 11)Prioritizes the order in which delinquent court-ordered debt received is to be satisfied. The priorities are a) victim restitution, b) state surcharge, c) restitution fines, penalty assessments, and other fines, with payments made on a proportional basis to the total amount levied for all of these items, and d) state/county/city reimbursements, and special revenue items. FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, minor recoverable costs to collection agencies. COMMENTS: According to the author, "SB 1054 addresses legal ambiguities in the collection of victim restitution fines from inmates sentenced to county jail pursuant to Penal Code Section 1170(h) and inmates released from state prison to Post-Release Community Supervision (PRCS). Because of statutory inconsistencies, it is unclear when a county sheriff is authorized to collect a state authorized administrative fee. SB 1054 Page 5 Consequently, sheriffs may be unable to collect administrative fees to pay for restitution collection from PC [Penal Code Section] 1170(h) inmates. In addition, because of an anomaly in current law, an individual on PRCS can be referred to the state Franchise Tax Board for collection of restitution, despite being on local supervision. This dual state-local authority could lead to unfair restitution collection from an individual released to PRCS. SB 1054 would specify that counties that supervise criminal populations can collect the restitution and related administrative costs and thus help victims receive restitution. The bill provides fairness in collecting restitution from criminal offenders released to PRCS, who at the present time may be overcharged restitution fines from both the state and the county. "In 2012, the Legislature authorized the collection of restitution from county jail inmate accounts from prisoners sentenced pursuant to Penal Code section 1170(h). Since that time, there has been confusion regarding the collection of administrative fees by county sheriffs pursuant to this statute. Because of this confusion, some counties such as Monterey, San Diego and Sacramento, believe that the collection of the fee is not authorized until the release of the inmate. However, inmates may empty out their account to prevent the county sheriff from collecting their administrative fee upon their release. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) has always interpreted the language to allow for immediate collection of the administrative fee, but not all counties agree. This bill is consistent with recent legislation and clarifies the issue for counties. "Existing law authorizes the CDCR to refer any former prison inmate to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) for collection of restitution. Currently an individual on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) can be referred to the FTB, despite the fact that their supervision is local. AB 109 transferred supervision of inmates to local control. It is inconsistent with AB 109 for SB 1054 Page 6 the State to continue to collect restitution from an individual who is being supervised at the county level. Current law could lead to unfair double collection of restitution, hindering the successful reentry of an individual back into the community. "SB 1054 will resolve these issues to clearly express that a county sheriff can collect the 10% administrative fee at the time restitution is collected on behalf of the victim, and by amending the Revenue and Tax Code to allow a county that is collecting restitution from an individual on PRCS to have primary authority to do so. After an individual is released from PRCS, the county would then transfer responsibility to the FTB to collect remaining restitution." Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion of this bill. Analysis Prepared by: Sandy Uribe / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0003978