BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
2394 (Brownley)
Hearing Date: 08/02/2010 Amended: 06/14/2010
Consultant: Jacqueline Wong-HernandezPolicy Vote: Judiciary 4-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 2394 would establish the Levying Officer
Electronic Transactions Act, whereby a levying officer could use
electronic methods to create, generate, send, receive, store,
display, retrieve, or process information, electronic records,
and documents, as specified. This bill would authorize an
earnings withholding order to be served by first class mail
rather than certified mail on an employer, as specified.
This bill also makes clarifying changes to various provisions
statute as it pertains to levying officers and execution of
writs for the enforcement of money judgments.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2010-11 2011-12
2012-13 Fund
Authorizes electronic transmittal Potentially significant
savings, if adopted Local
Mandates: Levying officers Negligible; unlikely to
be reimbursable General
Potential net savings Local/General
Modifies notice delivery Likely substantial
ongoing savings Local
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STAFF COMMENTS:
AB 2394 would establish the Levying Officer Electronic
Transactions Act (LOETA) and provide rules and procedures, as
specified, for levying officers in the utilization of an
information processing system to create, generate, send,
receive, store, display, retrieve, or process information,
electronic records, and documents to the extent the levying
officer has the resources and technological capacity to do so.
This bill provides an "opt-in" provision requiring both the
court and the levying officer to have the technological
resources with which to administer the information processing
system and mutually agree to electronically process the
documents specified in this Act. This provision makes the
utilization of electronic processes optional. To the extent that
superior courts enter into agreements with levying officers,
those courts will likely achieve savings related to reduced
paper-base transactions and records storage.
This bill makes various minor (often technical and clarifying)
changes to various provisions statute as it pertains to levying
officers and execution of writs for the enforcement of money
judgments. Some of the changes, which are detailed below, may be
considered state mandates on local ministerial officers. It does
not appear, however, that any of them require significant new
duties or a higher level of service in their existing duties; in
fact, most will likely result in minor workload decreases. Thus,
these changes are unlikely to constitute reimbursable mandates
or reach a workload or resource threshold to merit a claim for
reimbursement.
Page 2
AB 2394 (Brownley)
Existing law requires the levying officer to return the original
writ of execution to the court along with a report detailing the
actions taken by the levying officer, the amounts collected
pursuant to the writ, and the costs incurred. This bill would
instead provide that the levying officer can either return the
original writ to the court or store the writ as specified under
the LOETA and file the report separately with the court.
Existing law also requires the levying officer to attach the
original garnishee's memorandum to the original writ of
execution for return to the court and deliver a copy to the
judgment creditor, unless no memorandum was received which
information shall be conveyed to the court. This bill would
instead remove the requirements to attach the original
garnishee's memorandum to the original writ for return to the
court, and would authorize the employer to electronically
transmit the garnishee's memorandum to the levying officer.
These regulation changes would likely result in increased
efficiency in for levying officers (or other county staff)
processing the reports.
Under current law, the levying officer, upon sale of real
property, must execute and deliver a deed of sale to the
purchaser and record a duplicate deed of sale with the county
recorder. This bill would additionally make the levying officer
responsible for collecting the documentary transfer tax with the
purchase amount from the purchaser and transmitting the
documentary transfer tax to the city and/or county. The degree
to which this responsibility already falls on levying officers,
by default, is unclear, but placing the responsibility in
statute creates a state mandate. That mandate is unlikely to
reach the threshold for reimbursement in virtually any county,
except Los Angeles, and even in Los Angeles is highly unlikely
to be a significant cost.
Existing law requires a levying officer at least once every two
years to account to the court all amounts collected under an
earnings withholding order. This bill would authorize the
levying officer to electronically file the accounting with the
court, which would likely result in very minor workload
reduction for levying officers and the court.
This bill is likely to result in substantial local savings, by
changing the requirements for serving an employer with an
earnings withholding order. Existing law requires the service of
an earnings withholding order on an employer to be delivered by
personal delivery, as specified, or by registered or certified
mail with return receipt requested. Service would be deemed
completed at the time the return receipt is executed by or on
behalf of the recipient. An employer receiving an earnings
withholding order must complete under oath and return within 15
days the enclosed Judicial Council "employer's return" form
indicating information about the garnishee/employee, as
specified. (Code Civ. Proc. Secs. 706.101(b), 706.125,
706.126.)
This bill would authorize the levying officer to serve the
earnings withholding order on an employer by first class mail,
instead of the more expensive certified or registered mail.
Service would be complete at the time of the receipt of the
withholding order as indicated by the employer on the employer's
return. According to the sponsor, it typically costs $5.88 to
serve an earnings withholding order by certified mail, of which
$2.20 is charged by the Post Office for return receipt service.
By contrast, it typically costs just $0.73 to send the same
materials by first class mail.