BILL NUMBER: AB 1775	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wieckowski

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2012

   An act to amend Section 706.050 of the Code of Civil Procedure,
relating to wage garnishment.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1775, as introduced, Wieckowski. Wage garnishment: exempt
earnings.
   Existing law requires a levy of execution upon the earnings of a
judgment debtor to be made by service of an earnings withholding
order upon the debtor's employer. Existing law limits the amount of
earnings of a judgment debtor that may be subject to an earnings
withholding order to the amount specified by federal law, unless an
exception applies. Federal law prohibits the amount of earnings that
may be subject to garnishment from exceeding 25% of an individual's
weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which the individual's
disposable earnings for the week exceed 30 times the state minimum
hourly wage in effect at the time the earnings are payable.
   This bill would prohibit the amount of an individual judgment
debtor's weekly disposable earnings subject to garnishment from
exceeding 25% of the individual's weekly disposable earnings or the
amount by which the individual's disposable earnings for the week
exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage in effect at the time
the earnings are payable, unless an exception applies.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 706.050 of the Code of Civil Procedure is
amended to read:
   706.050.  Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the 
maximum  amount of  disposable  earnings of  a
  an individual  judgment debtor  exempt
from the levy of an earnings withholding order shall be that amount
that may not be withheld from the judgment debtor's earnings under
federal law in Section 1673(a) of Title 15 of the United States Code.
  for any work week that is subject to garnishment
shall not exceed either of the following:  
   (a) Twenty-five percent of the individual's disposable earnings
for that week.  
   (b) The amount by which the individual's disposable earnings for
that week that exceed 40 times the state minimum hourly wage in
effect at the time the earnings are payable.