BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1222|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
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|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1222
Author: Wolk (D)
Amended: 5/3/10
Vote: 21
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 3-1, 4/27/10
AYES: Corbett, Hancock, Leno
NOES: Walters
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman
SENATE FLOOR : 18-13, 5/17/10 (FAIL)
AYES: Alquist, Calderon, Cedillo, Corbett, DeSaulnier,
Ducheny, Florez, Hancock, Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Padilla,
Pavley, Romero, Simitian, Steinberg, Wolk, Yee
NOES: Aanestad, Cogdill, Correa, Cox, Denham, Dutton,
Harman, Hollingsworth, Huff, Runner, Strickland, Walters,
Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn, Lowenthal, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Price, Wiggins, Wright, Vacancy, Vacancy
SUBJECT : Marriage licenses: vital records: fees:
domestic violence
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill, until January 1, 2012, authorizes
Solano County, upon making specified findings and
declarations, to increase fees for marriage licenses,
certified copies of marriage certificates, fetal death
records, and death records, up to a maximum of $2. This
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bill requires these funds to be used for governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence and family
violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the Solano County
Board of Supervisors, upon making specified findings and
declarations, to increase the fees for marriage licenses
and confidential marriage licenses, as well as certified
copies of marriage, birth, and death certificates, by up to
$2, with further increases permitted on an annual basis,
based on the Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco
metropolitan area for the preceding year. Existing law
provides that the authorization for the fee increases will
sunset on January 1, 2011. (Sections 26840.10 and 26840.11
of the Government Code; Sections 103627, 103627.5, and
103628 of the Health and Safety Code)
Existing law directs that these fees be deposited into a
special fund to be used for governmental oversight and
coordination of domestic violence and family violence
prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts.
(Sections 18309 and 18309.5 of the Welfare and Institutions
Code)
Existing law provides that the Solano County Board of
Supervisors must submit to the Assembly and Senate
Judiciary Committees, by July 1, 2009, a report regarding
such fee increases. The report must provide the amounts of
fees received and expended as well as the outcomes achieved
as a result of the expenditures. (Sections 26840.10 and
26840.11 of the Government Code; Section 103627.5 of the
Health and Safety Code)
This bill, until January 1, 2012, extends the authorization
for the Solano County Board of Supervisors to increase fees
for the purposes specified above.
Background
AB 2010 (Hancock), Chapter 830, Statutes of 2004,
authorized the Counties of Alameda and Solano to raise the
fees for marriage licenses and for certified copies of
vital records. The money raised is placed in a special
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fund in each county to provide for oversight and
coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention,
and prosecution efforts in each respective county. These
efforts include coordination among the court system, the
district attorney's office, the public defender's office,
law enforcement, the probation department, mental health,
substance abuse, child welfare services, adult protective
services, and other agencies and community-based
organizations in the counties. AB 2010 authorized a fee
increase of up to $2 for each county, with further
increases permitted on an annual basis, using the Consumer
Price Index (CPI) for the San Francisco metropolitan area.
AB 2010 contained a sunset of January 1, 2010, and required
a report on each county's program to the Legislature by
July 1, 2009.
The following year, AB 1712 (Hancock), Chapter 545,
Statutes of 2005, authorized the City of Berkeley to also
increase the fees for certified copies of vital records by
up to $2. The City of Berkeley, located in Alameda County,
operates its own public health department and offers a full
range of public health services. Accordingly, Berkeley
runs its own domestic violence programs and maintains birth
certificates, fetal death, and death records for its
residents. AB 1712 allowed the City of Berkeley to provide
oversight and coordination of its domestic violence
programs under the same terms and conditions that apply to
the rest of Alameda County. AB 1712 also contained a
sunset of January 1, 2010.
Last year, AB 73 (Hayashi), Chapter 215, Statutes of 2009,
eliminated the sunset for the increased fee authorization
in Alameda County and the City of Berkeley and required
that a final report be filed with the Assembly and Senate
Judiciary Committees by July 1, 2014. SB 635 (Wiggins),
Chapter 356, Statutes of 2009, extended the sunset for the
pilot program in Solano County for an additional year to
January 1, 2011.
This bill extends the sunset for the fee authorization
pilot program in Solano County until January 1, 2012.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
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SUPPORT : (Verified 5/3/10)
Solano County Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION : (Verified 5/3/10)
California Taxpayers' Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
the fees collected by the Solano County Board of
Supervisors through this pilot program are an important
source of domestic violence program funding for the county,
and are deposited into a fund to be used for the
construction of a Family Justice Center. The author's
office explains that Solano County would like to continue
this effort.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition, the California
Taxpayers' Association writes:
"SB 1222 improperly defines this tax as a fee. The
feepayer in this case bearing the burden for a program
that benefits the public at large ? [F]unds from this
tax-like fee will go toward mitigation of domestic
violence. Domestic violence is apparent in many
households, not just in married households. Yet those
who apply for marriage licenses must pay to mitigate this
societal problem. Programs that mitigate general
societal problems are more properly funded with taxes,
not fees."
RJG:mw 5/26/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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