BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 432|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 432
Author: Runner (R)
Amended: 5/21/09
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 4/28/09
AYES: Leno, Benoit, Cedillo, Hancock, Huff, Steinberg,
Wright
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 11-0, 5/18/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, DeSaulnier, Hancock,
Leno, Runner, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza, Walters
SUBJECT : Crime victims: restitution
SOURCE : California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation
DIGEST : This bill authorizes, when the court has ordered
a person to pay restitution to a victim, county probation
officers to provide the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation with the restitution orders and victims'
contact information for the purpose of distributing the
restitution collected on behalf of the victim. The bill
provides that the victim must give consent before contact
information is shared with the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation, and that information shall remain
confidential.
CONTINUED
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ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the probation officer of
the county from which a person is committed to an
institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to send to the
department a report of the circumstances surrounding the
offense and the prior record and history of the defendant,
as specified.
This bill, in addition, provides that whenever a person is
committed to an institution under the jurisdiction of the
CDCR and the court has ordered the person to pay
restitution to a victim, the following shall apply: If the
victim consents, the probation officer of the county from
which the person is committed may send to the CDCR the
victim's contact information and a copy of the restitution
order for the purpose of distributing the restitution
collected on behalf of the victim.
The bill specifies that the contact information shall
remain confidential and shall not be made part of the court
file or combined with any public document.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11
2011-12 Fund
State Mandated Local Unknown,
potentially significant General
Program costs
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/21/09)
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(source)
California Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Crime Victims United
Los Angeles County District Attorney
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The author's office states, the
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intent of this bill is to have counties to release enough
victim information to allow the CDCR, Office of Victims and
Survivor Rights and Services (OVSS) to disperse the
restitution that has been collected on behalf of the
victims direct order of restitution. The Victims
Compensation and Government Claims Board (VCGCB) currently
have $6.5 million in trust in undistributed direct order
collections. VCGCB is the state agency responsible for
administering the Victims Restitution Fund. The
restitution fund is for victims of violent crimes who
suffer out-of-pocket losses and who may be eligible to
apply for financial reimbursement. The fund reimburses
eligible victims for lost wages or support, medical or
psychological counseling expenses, and other related costs.
As of July 2008, CDCR has approximately 250,000 inmates and
parolees with obligations for restitution over $100. There
are approximately 33,000 current inmates and parolees who
owe direct orders. The sum of the balance due for these
offenders is approximately $1.1 billion. There are
approximately 100,000 unknown victims with direct orders of
restitution that CDCR is unable to locate.
Prior to 2007, any undisbursed collected restitution funds
were almost nonexistent. OVSS was able to distribute about
97 percent of all direct order collections immediately upon
collection because when an offender was ordered to pay a
victim under a direct order of restitution, the law further
required the victim to file a claim with the state before
CDCR was empowered to collect on the victim's behalf.
However, many victims were unclear on how to file a claim
or did not know that they were required to file a claim in
order to receive restitution funds. Victims also assumed
that once the order was written by the court, awarding
restitution to them, that the money would be automatically
mailed to them.
The requirement to file a claim became very unpopular with
both judges and victims. As a result, CDCR sponsored AB
1505 (La Suer), Chapter 555, Statutes of 2006, which
authorized (effective January 1, 2007) CDCR to collect on
all direct orders without the victim claim filing
requirement. This caused direct order collections to jump
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immediately from $40,000 monthly to $400,000.
RJG:do 5/21/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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