BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1111
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1111 (Fletcher and Mitchell) - As Amended: May 3, 2011
Policy Committee: JudiciaryVote:8-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill provides that, if a court during the course of its
routine efforts to collect delinquent court-ordered debt,
obtains information indicating that a person under 25 years of
age, who has been issued a citation for truancy, loitering,
curfew violations, or illegal lodging that is outstanding or
unpaid, is homeless or has no permanent address, the court shall
not garnish the wages or levy against bank accounts of that
person until that person is 25 years of age or until the court
learns that the person is no longer homeless, whichever occurs
earlier.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable costs for the courts to implement the bill's
requirements within the existing scope of its current debt
collection efforts, as required in the bill.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, homeless youth are often
caught in a catch-22 situation where their homelessness
inevitably results in citations for offenses like truancy or
illegal lodging, but wage garnishment to collect any unpaid
fines makes it much harder for these youth to escape the cycle
of homelessness, virtually ensuring that further citations for
the same type of offenses will continue to occur.
To address this problem cycle, this bill seeks to prohibit
courts from wage garnishment of a homeless youth under age 25
for outstanding unpaid citations related to truancy,
loitering, curfew violations, or illegal lodging until the
AB 1111
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youth is at least 25-years-old, in situations where, in the
course of its routine efforts to collect fines, the court
obtains information indicating the youth is homeless.
2)Prior Legislation . In 2010, AB 2264 (De Leon), which was
substantially similar to this bill, was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger, who stated:
"Although I laud the intent of this bill to help our youth
become productive members of society, this bill goes too
far in its provisions. Criminal fines provide a means to
not only deter criminal conduct, but also to help pay for
the consequences of undesirable behavior. Encouraging
those to avoid accountability for conduct the local or
state government has found harmful would set a bad
precedent for all citizens, particularly our youth.
Moreover, the bill is drafted too broadly, applying to
segments of the population who are not in need and are
capable of being responsible for their conduct. Courts
regularly decide on payment schedules based on a person's
ability to pay and many counties have created Homeless
Courts to address concerns that prompted this bill, thus
this bill would unnecessarily limit judicial discretion."
In its support of AB 1111, the Western Center on Law and
Poverty refutes two of Governor Schwarzenegger's points as
follows:
"In his veto message of this measure last year, the
then-Governor argued the bill would allow homeless youth
to avoid accountability. Yet homeless youth are not
homeless by choice. The greatest numbers of them are
former foster youth who have "graduated" out of the system
with no resources. Others have parents who are unwilling
or unable to care for them. To say that homeless youths
lack accountability is a textbook example of blaming the
victim for his misfortune."
"The Governor also claimed the bill was not needed in part
because "many" counties have established homeless courts.
According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, only
16 out of the 58 counties have established homeless
courts. We would not use the adjective "many" to describe
this state of affairs. Furthermore, continuing fiscal
problems put even these courts at risk."
AB 1111
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Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081