BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
BILL NO: SB 968 HEARING: 8/28/06
AUTHOR: Torlakson FISCAL: No
VERSION: 8/14/06 CONSULTANT:
Weinberger
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY'S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FEES
Background and Existing Law
In 2001, the Legislature authorized a pilot program
allowing Contra Costa County to provide governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence prevention,
intervention, and prosecution efforts. To fund the pilot
program, the County may increase fees by a maximum of $2
for marriage licenses and on certified copies of marriage
certificates, birth certificates, fetal death records, and
death records. The County must deposit the fees into a
special county fund and may increase the fees each year by
the Consumer Price Index. The program sunsets on January
1, 2007 (SB 425, Torlakson, 2001).
Earlier this year, the County provided a report to the
Assembly and Senate Judiciary Committees detailing the Zero
Tolerance for Domestic Violence program's outcomes and the
amount of funds received and spent. The County reported
collecting fees on vital records (but not marriage
licenses) totaling about $140,000 a year in 2002-03 and
2003-04. It collected about $170,000 in 2004-05. The
County estimates that it will collect about $177,000 in
2005-06.
The County reported that its pilot program sent more
perpetrators to batterers treatment programs, increased the
number of restraining orders issued and filed in the
statewide law enforcement database, helped community
partners align policies and practices, and increased
system-wide accountability.
Contra Costa County wants the Legislature to make the
program permanent and change the structure of the fees that
fund the program.
Proposed Law
SB 968 -- 8/14/06 -- Page 2
Senate Bill 968 repeals the January 1, 2007 automatic
termination date in the statute that authorizes the County
of Contra Costa to increase fees for certified copies of
marriage certificates, birth certificates, fetal death
records, and death records to fund oversight and
coordination of agencies dealing with domestic violence,
making the statute permanent.
SB 968 increases the maximum fee that the County can charge
on the vital records listed above from $2 to $4.
The bill also contains legislative findings regarding
Contra Costa County's efforts to combat domestic violence
and declaring the necessity of special legislation
applicable only to the County.
Comments
1. Sustaining success . In just a few years, Contra Costa
County's Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence program has
greatly enhanced the County's efforts to curtail domestic
violence. The program created a new model for addressing
domestic violence by integrating victim services across
multiple disciplines and by advancing public-private
partnerships to institutionalize coordination. The program
leveraged the revenues generated from fees by successfully
competing for federal and other funds, which have increased
the County's ability to serve domestic violence victims and
prosecute offenders. The reauthorization of fees to fund
these programs is essential for Contra Costa County to
continue its efforts.
2. Higher fees, smaller base . SB 968 narrows the
population base that could be subject to Contra Costa
County's domestic violence fees. Although the 2001 law
allowed the County to charge these fees on marriage
licenses, it never did. The bill allows that authority to
expire, effectively limiting the County's fees to other
types of vital records. Contra Costa County currently
charges $19 for birth certificates, $15 for a certified
copy of a marriage license, and $14 for death records. SB
968 allows the county to increase those charges to $21,
$17, and $16 respectively.
SB 968 -- 8/14/06 -- Page 3
3. Gut-and-amend . When the Senate passed SB 968 in May
2005, the bill renamed the "circulation element" of general
plans as the "transportation element." The February 2006
amendments in the Assembly deleted that language and
instead converted the bill into a measure pertaining to
fees to fund domestic violence prevention, intervention,
and prosecution efforts in Contra Costa County. Because
that topic was never heard in the Senate, the Senate Rules
Committee has referred the amended bill under Senate Rule
29.10 to the Senate Local Government Committee for a
hearing on the Assembly's amendments. At its August 28
hearing, the Committee has four choices:
Send the bill back to the Senate Floor,
recommending concurrence.
Send the bill back to the Senate Floor,
recommending nonconcurrence.
Send the bill back to the Senate Floor, without
recommendation.
Hold the bill.
Assembly Actions
Assembly Judiciary Committee: 6-3
Assembly Floor: 46-29
Support and Opposition (8/25/06)
Support : Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors, Contra
Costa County Office of the Sheriff, Contra Costa County
Probation Department, Contra Costa County Employment and
Human Services, Contra Costa County Office of the District
Attorney, Contra Costa County Department of Child Support
Services, Superior Court of California - Contra Costa
County, Contra Costa Counicl, Child Abuse Prevention
Council of Contra Costa County, STAND! Against Domestic
Violence.
Opposition : Unknown.