BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 862|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 862
Author: Bass (D)
Amended: 7/12/05 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/21/05
AYES: Alquist, Cedillo, Migden, Perata, Romero
NO VOTE RECORDED: Poochigian, Margett
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 42-32, 6/2/05 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Inmates: parental rights and responsibilities
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation to provide inmates with the following
information: (1) a Department of Child Support Services
Child Support Handbook; (2) a pamphlet entitled "Child
Support Information for the Parent in Jail or Prison"; and
(3) any other material developed by the Department of Child
Support Services that will provide the necessary
information regarding child support processes and
procedures.
ANALYSIS : Under existing law, the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation has responsibility for the
care and custody of inmates under its jurisdiction.
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AB 862
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This bill provides that every "inmate who is remanded to
the custody of the Department of Corrections and who is a
parent of a minor child shall receive, upon reception,
information on child support modification. The Department
of Child Support Services shall develop the information and
provide it to the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation for distribution. The information shall
include, but is not limited to, all of the following:
1.A Department of Child Support Services Child Support
Handbook.
2.A pamphlet entitled "Child Support Information for the
Parent in Jail or Prison."
3.Any other material developed by the Department of Child
Support Services that will provide the necessary
information regarding child support processes and
procedures."
This bill provides that the act it would enact would be
known as the Sheran Rallanson Act.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/19/05)
California Commission on the Status of Women
Child Support Directors Association of California
County of Los Angeles, Child Support Services Department
Friends Committee on Legislation of California
Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
National Center on Youth Law
Solano County Department of Child Support Services
Voter Correction Reform Coalition
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states in
part, "The purpose of this measure is to create a uniform
notification process in California state prisons to ensure
incarcerated non-custodial parents have appropriate
information about their responsibilities relating to the
process and procedures for modification of child support
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orders. In 2003, the federal Office of Child Support
Enforcement estimated that accumulated unpaid child support
was approaching $100 billion for the nation as a whole and
more than $18 billion for California. A great deal of this
debt can be attributed to incarcerated non -custodial
parents. There are a large number of men and women
entering state prison unaware of the existing child support
orders against them. For those individuals and others who
become aware of the support order, many are unaware of
their responsibility to notify the court of their change in
circumstance. When parents go to prison, their legal
responsibility to comply with their child support order
remain. On an average, incarcerated parents owe more than
$20,000 when they are released from prison. Unless
modified, accumulated child support debt can undermine an
individual's effort to obtain and maintain regular
employment when released - resulting in their inability to
pay child support and to reunite with their family. Out of
the 32 prisons in this state, very few have a process
available for prisoners to access information and seek
further help. For those prisons that provide minimal
outreach, it usually takes place at the pre or post release
interviews - after they might have been incarcerated for
years. By this time, support arrears have grown to a
substantial amount because intervention is happening at the
end of the inmates stay. At a minimum, newly incarcerated
inmates should receive this information at all institutions
upon reception to begin the process at intake - when they
are first incarcerated."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Baca, Bass, Berg, Calderon, Chan, Chavez, Chu, Cohn,
Coto, De La Torre, Evans, Frommer, Goldberg, Hancock,
Jerome Horton, Jones, Karnette, Klehs, Koretz, Laird,
Leno, Levine, Lieber, Liu, Matthews, Montanez, Mullin,
Nation, Nava, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Parra, Pavley,
Ridley-Thomas, Ruskin, Saldana, Torrico, Umberg, Vargas,
Wolk, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Aghazarian, Arambula, Benoit, Blakeslee, Bogh,
Cogdill, Daucher, DeVore, Emmerson, Garcia, Harman,
Haynes, Shirley Horton, Houston, Huff, Keene, La Malfa,
La Suer, Leslie, Maze, McCarthy, Mountjoy, Nakanishi,
Niello, Plescia, Sharon Runner, Spitzer, Strickland,
Tran, Villines, Walters, Wyland
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NO VOTE RECORDED: Bermudez, Canciamilla, Dymally, Gordon,
Richman, Salinas
RJG:nl 8/19/05 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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