BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE
Senator Patricia Wiggins, Chair
BILL NO: SB 676 HEARING: 5/6/09
AUTHOR: Wolk FISCAL: No
VERSION: 4/13/09 CONSULTANT:
Weinberger
LOCAL FEES
Background
County boards of supervisors can levy authorized fees or
charges in amounts reasonably necessary to recover the
costs of providing products or services or the cost of
enforcing regulations. (AB 151, Hannigan, 1983). The fees
or charges may reflect the average cost of providing
products or services or enforcing regulations, plus limited
indirect costs.
Despite generally deregulating county fees 25 years ago,
state law still sets a large number of fees, including
civil fees, county recorder fees, and fees charged by
agricultural commissioners. It has been decades since some
of the statutory limits for these fees have been updated.
County officials want the Legislature to adjust the
statutory limits for some county fees.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 676 increases or eliminates the statutory
limits on 14 fees:
I. Federal lien certificates . Existing law allows county
recorders to impose fees of up to $15 to cover the costs of
furnishing a copy of any notice of federal lien, or notice
or certificate affecting a federal lien. The $15 maximum
has not changed since 1983 (SB 1250, Russell, 1982).
Senate Bill 676 deletes the $15 limit, allowing county
recorders to set the fee in an amount that covers actual
costs. [See 1 of the bill.]
II. Environmental Quality Act filings . Existing law
allows county clerks to charge a $50 per filing documentary
handling fee for specified filings under the California
Environmental Quality Act. The $50 amount was set in 2007
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(SB 1535, Kuehl, 2006). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $50
amount and allows county clerks to charge a documentary
handling fee to reimburse the county for the actual costs
of services rendered. [2]
III. Recorded documents . Existing law allows county
recorders to charge a filing fee for recording and indexing
every instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by
law to be recorded. The maximum charge is $4 for the
recording of the first page and $3 for each additional
page, with the ability to charge additional fees as
specified. The $4 maximum has not changed since 1985 (SB
2277, McCorquodale, 1984). Senate Bill 676 increases the
maximum charge for the recording of the first page of a
document from $4 to $10. [3]
IV. Documents requiring additional indexing . Whenever any
instrument, paper, or notice is recorded which contains
references to more than one previously recorded document
and which requires additional indexing by the county
recorder to give notice required by law, existing law
allows the recorder to charge an additional $1 fee for each
reference to a previously recorded document, other than the
first such reference, requiring additional indexing. The
$1 amount has not changed since 1970 (SB 54, Collier,
1969). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $1 amount, allowing
county recorders to charge a fee to reimburse the county
for the actual costs of services rendered. [4]
V. Documents requiring additional indexing . Whenever any
instrument, paper or notice is recorded which requires
additional indexing by the county recorder to give notice
required by law and does not refer to a previously recorded
document by reference, existing law allows the county
recorder to charge an additional $1 fee for each group of
10 names, or fractional portion thereof, after the initial
group of 10 names. The $1 amount has not changed since
1981 (SB 1940, Stiern, 1980). Senate Bill 676 deletes the
$1 amount, allowing county recorders to charge a fee to
reimburse the county for the actual costs of services
rendered. [5]
VI. Court-appointed counsel . Existing law allows a county
board of supervisors to assess a registration fee of up to
$25 on every defendant represented by appointed counsel.
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No fee is required of any defendant who is financially
unable to pay. The $25 maximum has not changed since 1997
(SB 251, Ayala, 1996). Senate Bill 676 increases the
maximum amount of the fee from $25 to $50. [7]
VII. Restitution . If a court orders that restitution be
made to a crime victim, a county board of supervisors may
add a fee to cover the actual administrative cost of
collecting restitution, not to exceed 10% of the total
amount ordered to be paid. The fees are paid into the
county general fund. The 10% maximum has not changed since
1986 (SB 737, Royce, 1985). Senate Bill 676 increases the
maximum fee to cover the costs of collecting restitution
from 10% to 15% of the total amount ordered to be paid.
[8]
VIII. County probation department payments . Existing law
requires some defendants to pay for the reasonable cost of
any probation supervision or a conditional sentence, of
conducting any pre-plea investigation and preparing of any
pre-plea report, of conducting any pre-sentence
investigation and preparing any pre-sentence report and of
processing a jurisdictional transfer or of processing a
request for interstate compact supervision. A county board
of supervisors may establish a fee of up to $50 to cover
the administrative and clerical costs of collecting the
defendants' payments. The $50 maximum has not changed
since 1996 (AB 594, Boland, 1995). Senate Bill 676 deletes
the $50 maximum, allowing counties to charge fees to cover
the administrative and clerical costs of collecting the
defendants' payments. [9]
IX. Change of plea, setting aside of a verdict . Under
existing law, a person who petitions for a change of plea
or setting aside of a verdict may be required to reimburse
the court, the county, and the city for the actual costs of
services rendered, whether or not the petition is granted
and the records are sealed or expunged. The court, the
county board of supervisors, and the city may determine a
rate of up to $120 to reimburse the actual costs. The $120
maximum has not been changed since 1995 (AB 1327, Epple,
1994). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $120 maximum, allowing
courts, counties, and cities to require reimbursement for
the actual costs of services rendered. [10]
SB 676 -- 4/13/09 -- Page 4
X. Sealing of records . Under existing law, a person who
was convicted of a misdemeanor when he or she was a minor
at the time of the offense and who petitions for an order
sealing his or her record may be required to reimburse the
court, the county, and the city for the actual costs of
services rendered, whether or not the petition is granted
and the records are sealed or expunged. The court, the
county board of supervisors, and the city may determine a
rate of up to $120 to reimburse the actual costs. The $120
maximum has not changed since 1995 (AB 1327, Epple, 1994).
Senate Bill 676 deletes the $120 maximum, allowing courts,
counties, and cities to require reimbursement for the
actual costs of services rendered. [11]
XI. Installment payments . Under existing law, a person
who is convicted of a misdemeanor and required to pay a
fine may pay the fine in specified installments. A board
of supervisors may require defendants to pay to the clerk
of the court or the collecting agency a fee of up to $35 to
pay for the administrative and clerical costs of processing
installment accounts. The $35 maximum has not changed
since 1993 (AB 2409, Isenberg, 1992). Senate Bill 676
deletes the $35 maximum, allowing a board of supervisors to
require a fee sufficient to pay for the administrative and
clerical costs of processing installment accounts. [12]
XII. Fingerprinting . Existing law allows a local agency
taking fingerprints of a person who is an applicant for
licensing, employment, or certification to charge up to $10
to cover the cost of taking the fingerprints and processing
the required documents. The $10 maximum has not changed
since 1987 (AB 4375, Stirling, 1986). Senate Bill 676
deletes the $10 maximum, allowing local agencies to charge
a fee sufficient to cover the cost of taking the
fingerprints and processing the required documents. [13]
XIII. Support of a minor . Existing law requires that the
father, mother, spouse, or other person liable for the
support of a minor be liable for the reasonable costs of
support of the minor while the minor is placed, detained
in, or committed to any institution because of delinquency
or truancy. Costs of support mean only actual costs
incurred by the county for food and food preparation,
clothing, personal supplies, and medical expenses, not to
exceed a combined maximum of costs of $15 per day except
SB 676 -- 4/13/09 -- Page 5
that the maximum cost of $15 per day must be adjusted every
third year beginning January 1, 1998 to reflect the
percentage change in the calendar year annual average of
the California Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers,
published by the Department of Industrial Relations, for
the three-year period. The $15 maximum has not changed
since 1985 (AB 2379, Sher, 1984). Senate Bill 676
increases the maximum cost to $45 per day, adjusted every
third year. [14]
XIV. Sealing of juvenile records . Existing law allows
counties and courts to require specified people to
reimburse them up to $120 for the costs of services
rendered for any investigation related to the sealing and
for the sealing of any juvenile court or arrest records,
whether or not the petition is granted and the records are
sealed or expunged. The $120 maximum has not changed since
1995 (AB 1327, Epple, 1994). Senate Bill 676 deletes the
maximum, allowing counties and courts to require
reimbursement for the full costs of services rendered. [
15]
Senate Bill 676 also deletes statutory cross-references to
statutes in which the bill proposes to delete limits on
fees, thereby allowing the fees to be set pursuant to the
general authorization for counties to recover the cost of
providing any product or service or the cost of enforcing
any regulation for which a fee or charge is levied. [ 6]
Comments
1. Protecting taxpayers . As costs rise and the demand for
services grows, the county fees that are capped by state
law no longer cover the real costs of providing the
service. When fees don't generate enough money to pay for
services, counties' general funds must pay the difference.
County taxpayers have to subsidize the users of these
county services. Programs that depend on money from
counties' general funds, like law enforcement and
libraries, suffer the fiscal consequences. SB 676 does not
allow county supervisors to charge new fees. It simply
lets county governments charge the people who use county
services fees that reflect the actual costs of providing
those services.
SB 676 -- 4/13/09 -- Page 6
2. Why stop there ? The fees that SB 676 adjusts are only
a small portion of the county fees that state law continues
to be limit. For example, the Legislature has excluded
court-related fees, fees charged by a county agricultural
commissioner, fees collected by a county sealer of weights
and measures, and fees charged by a county recorder from
the deregulation enacted by the 1983 Hannigan bill. These
exemptions guarantee that county taxpayers subsidize the
operations of these select government entities. Why should
applicants for public employment pay the full cost for
conducting fingerprint background checks, while taxpayers
subsidize the cost of getting grocery store scales tested
and inspected? The Committee may wish to consider whether
the Legislature should completely deregulate county fees by
repealing all of the specific statutory rates.
3. Double referral . Because SB 676 affects fees for
court-appointed counsel, criminal records, fines, and other
related topics, the Senate Rules Committee ordered a
double-referral of the bill, first to the Senate Public
Safety Committee and then to the Senate Local Government
Committee. The Public Safety committee passed SB 676 at
its April 21 hearing by a 5-2 vote.
Support and Opposition (4/30/09)
Support : Yolo County, Humboldt County, Santa Clara County,
California State Association of Counties, California Public
Defenders Association, Chief Probation Officers of
California, Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association.
Opposition : California Association of Realtors.