BILL ANALYSIS
SB 968
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 968 (Torlakson)
As Amended June 21, 2006
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
JUDICIARY 6-3
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|Ayes:|Jones, Berg, Laird, | | |
| |Levine, Lieber, Montanez | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Haynes, Leslie, Wyland | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Deletes the January 1, 2007 sunset for the fee
increase for certified copies of specified documents and
increases that fee in order to fund domestic violence prevention
efforts in Contra Costa County. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings with regard to the prevalence of
domestic violence, the harm done thereby, and Contra Costa
County's successful domestic violence program.
2)Deletes the January 1, 2007 sunset for the fee increase, and
increases that fee from $2 to $4 [subject to Consumer Price
Index (CPI) increases], for certified copies of marriage
certificates, birth certificates, and death records to provide
funding for governmental oversight and for coordination of
domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution
efforts in the county.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, upon
making specified findings and declarations, to increase the
fees for marriage licenses and confidential marriage licenses
and for certified copies of marriage certificates, birth
certificates, fetal death records and death records by up to
$2, with further increases permitted on an annual basis, based
on the CPI for the San Francisco metropolitan area for the
preceding year.
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2)Directs that these fees are to be deposited into a special
fund to be used for governmental oversight and coordination of
domestic violence and family violence prevention, intervention
and prosecution efforts.
3)Provides that the authorization for these fee increases will
sunset on January 1, 2007.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : Under existing law, the Contra Costa County Board of
Supervisors is permitted to increase fees by $2 on marriage
licenses and on certified copies of marriage certificates, birth
certificates, fetal death records, and death records for the
purpose of funding that county's oversight and coordination of
domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution
efforts. This fee increase sunsets on January 1, 2007. Contra
Costa County, the sponsor of this bill, now seeks to delete the
repeal date of its Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence Program,
which is funded by the fee increase. This bill allows the fee
increase for marriage certificates to expire, but increases the
fee for certified documents from $2 to $4.
The fee increase was established in 2001 by SB 425 (Torlakson),
Chapter 90, Statutes of 2001. SB 425 permits the Contra Costa
County Board of Supervisors to increase fees on marriage
licenses and on certified copies of marriage certificates, birth
certificates, fetal death records, and death records for the
purpose of funding that county's governmental oversight and
coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention, and
prosecution efforts. The fee increase is scheduled to sunset on
January 1, 2007. Since then the Legislature has approved
similar programs in Alameda and Solano Counties. [AB 2010
(Hancock), Chapter 830, Statutes of 2004.]
SB 425 requires the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors to
report to the Senate and Assembly Judiciary Committees, no later
than July 1, 2006, on the annual amounts of funds received and
expended under the program and the outcomes achieved. That
report, entitled Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence: A
Systemic Approach to Stopping Domestic Violence, was submitted
on June 6, 2006.
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According to the report, Contra Costa's "response to domestic
violence has undergone significant and wide-reaching changes"
since SB 425 was enacted. As a result of the increased funding,
Contra Costa County has been able to, among other things,
increase funding for a coordinated system and for individual
agencies; increase system wide accountability; increase batterer
accountability; and increase protections for victims and
children. Prior to the fee increase, individual agencies did
not work together smoothly, but the funding increase has
permitted the county to "operate an efficient and coordinated
system."
The report states that to date over $712,000 has been raised by
the increased fees, representing approximately $177,000 per
year. According to the report, this small, but significant
infusion of money helped the board of supervisors to invest $9.8
million, to date, in coordinated early intervention services.
County agencies and community-based organizations have, in turn,
invested an estimated $12 million to the program. Moreover,
these investments have helped garner over $1 million in federal
funding in the last two years. This increased funding has led
to the following developments:
1)Helped community partners align polices and practices.
2)Increased capacity for individual agencies.
3)Expanded data collection of partner agencies.
4)Increased system wide accountability.
5)Increased batterer accountability by increasing convictions of
misdemeanor domestic violence cases, sending more perpetrators
to batterers treatment programs, and increasing early
intervention in domestic violence cases.
6)Increased protection for victims and children by increasing
the identification of children living in violent homes and the
number of restraining orders issued and filed in the
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS)
database.
7)Increased access to services for victims by improving
collaboration among partner agencies.
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8)Increased consumer satisfaction with the services offered.
While much progress has been made, the report finds that more
needs to be done to combat domestic violence by broadening
continuum strategies, closing system gaps and incorporating best
practices throughout the county. The report concludes that the
program:
[H]as the potential to permanently increase the
efficiency and effectiveness of domestic violence
prevention and interventions and create safer
communities. Zero Tolerance has demonstrated multiple
successes in oversight and coordination and has
identified challenges and new directions which have
broad implications for similar public-private domestic
violence coordination models.
Domestic violence continues to be a significant problem
throughout the nation and in California. Just last year, the
Attorney General's Task Force on Domestic Violence reported
that:
The health consequences of physical and psychological
domestic violence can be significant and long lasting,
for both victims and their children. . . . A study by
the California Department of Health Services of
women's health issues found that nearly six percent of
women, or about 620,000 women per year experienced
violence or physical abuse by their intimate partners.
Women living in households where children are present
experienced domestic violence at much higher rates
than women living in households without children:
domestic violence occurred in more than 436,000
households per year in which children were present,
potentially exposing approximately 916,000 children to
violence in the homes every year.
(Report to the California Attorney General from the Task Force
on Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence,
"Keeping the Promise: Victim Safety and Batterer
Accountability" (June 2005) (footnotes omitted).)
That report discovered numerous significant and troubling
problems in the implementation of statutory directives aimed at
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preventing domestic violence, including failing to enter
restraining orders into the California Law Enforcement
Telecommunications System and failing to ensure that batterers
attend mandated treatment programs. Given that the Contra Costa
program has made significant improvements in these areas, it has
the potential for serving as a model for best practices for the
state as a whole. Maintaining its funding will allow this
innovative local program to continue and even improve.
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916)
319-2334
FN: 0015366