BILL ANALYSIS
AB 131
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Date of Hearing: April 1, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 131 (Evans) - As Amended: March 24, 2009
Policy Committee:
JudiciaryVote:10-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a program to collect reimbursements from
responsible parties able to pay for counsel appointed by the
court to represent parents or their children in dependency
cases.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the Judicial Council to establish the cost-recovery
program and to develop a statewide standard for determining
ability- to- pay reimbursements for counsel.
2)Requires that all funds collected through these reimbursements
be used to reduce dependency counsel caseloads toward the
workload standard previously adopted by the Council.
3)Makes a person liable for support of a minor liable for costs
incurred by the court for legal services rendered to the minor
by an attorney pursuant to a juvenile court order.
4)Allows the court to designate a financial evaluation officer
to determine liability for specified reimbursement programs,
including reimbursement for legal services rendered to a
minor, and provides conditions for not requiring
reimbursement.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Annual cost recovery to the courts of about $3 million to $5
million, which, pursuant to the bill, would be use to hire
additional dependency attorneys for those counties with the
highest caseloads. This estimate is based on experience from
AB 131
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a pilot project in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties, where
7% to 10% of parents were determined able to provide an
average of $850 in reimbursement for dependency counsel costs.
Approximately 56,000 parents are represented statewide.
2)One-time absorbable administrative costs for the Judicial
Council to establish the ability-to-pay standard.
COMMENTS
Purpose . Current law makes parents who have the ability to pay
responsible for the costs of counsel provided in both dependency
and delinquency actions. However, there is no mechanism for the
courts to recover their cost for court-appointed attorneys.
(The county is responsible for paying for appointed counsel in
delinquency cases and the court is responsible in dependency
cases.) This bill, sponsored by the Judicial Council,
establishes a program whereby parents who have the ability to do
so would be required to reimburse the cost of providing counsel
to parents and children in dependency actions. The bill
specifically prevents repayment if doing so would harm the
parent's ability to support the child or pose a barrier to
reunification, thus ensuring that the best interests of the
child are paramount.
The results of a 10-county pilot program to measure the effect
of reduced caseloads and increased compensation for dependency
counsel on improved well-being outcomes for children were found
to be positive. Attorneys in the pilot counties had an average
caseload of 191 versus an average caseload statewide of 283. As
a result of pilot program, the Judicial Council adopted a
caseload standard of 188 clients per dependency attorney, and
estimates a cost of $57 million to meet this standard statewide.
The cost recovery generated by this bill thus covers only a
fraction of the need, but will nevertheless help to reduce
attorney caseloads.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081