BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1852
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 17, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY
Mike Feuer, Chair
AB 1852 (Campos) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
As Proposed to be Amended
SUBJECT : DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FUNDING: FEES
KEY ISSUE : IN ORDER TO BETTER PROTECT VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC
VIOLENCE, SHOULD COUNTY BOARDS OF SUPERVISORS AND CITY COUNCILS
BE PERMITTED TO RAISE FEES FOR SPECIFIED VITAL RECORDS BY UP TO
$5 IN ORDER TO IMPROVE GOVERNMENTAL OVERSIGHT AND COORDINATION
OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS?
FISCAL EFFECT : As currently in print this bill is keyed
non-fiscal.
SYNOPSIS
For more than 10 years, the Legislature has authorized, on a
pilot basis, five counties to increase fees for certain vital
records to fund governmental oversight and coordination of
domestic violence prevention, intervention, and prosecution
programs. Many of these programs have been highly successful in
combating domestic violence and the Legislature has made the
programs in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano Counties and the
City of Berkeley permanent. This bill seeks to expand these
successful programs statewide by giving all counties the ability
to raise fees for certified copies of marriage and birth
certificates and death records by up to $5 in order to fund
governmental oversight and coordination of domestic violence
programs. Cities may do the same for certified copies of birth
and death records.
The author believes the bill is necessary to give counties and
cities, at their option, more tools to combat domestic violence.
The bill is supported by the California Police Chiefs
Association and the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors.
This bill is opposed by anti-tax groups who argue that the fee
increase is in reality a tax and is neither effective nor
constitutional.
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SUMMARY : Authorizes county boards of supervisors and city
councils to increase specified fees to fund domestic violence
prevention programs. Specifically, this bill :
1)States the findings of the Legislature that, among other
things:
a) Domestic is costly both in human and organizational
concerns. Domestic violence affects people of all economic
and education levels, ages, and ethnic groups.
b) Domestic violence puts children at risk. Child abuse
and neglect have lifelong impacts on affected children and
society.
c) Domestic violence is learned and generational.
d) Domestic violence, child abuse and neglect and family
violence require a multifaceted intervention that engages
civil, criminal, health, and social service sectors working
together to align objectives, protocols, policies and
activities of each sector.
2)Authorizes a county board of supervisors and a city council
(for everything except marriage certificates), upon making
specified findings and declarations, to increase the fees for
certified copies of marriage and birth certificates, and death
records by up to $5, with further increases permitted on an
annual basis, based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Directs that the fees be deposited into a special fund which
can be used for governmental oversight and coordination of
domestic violence and family violence prevention and
intervention efforts, including law enforcement, mental
health, public health, substance abuse, victim advocacy,
community education, and housing services, in order to
increase the effectiveness of prevention, early intervention
and prosecution of domestic and family violence.
3)Allows the county or city, as appropriate, to retain up to
four percent of the fees for administrative costs associated
with collection of the fees.
4)Provides that this bill will not affect any other laws that
authorize a county or city to increase fees for marriage
license and for certified copies of marriage and birth
certificates and death records.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and the
Berkeley City Council, 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
CPI. Directs that the 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. (Government Code
Section 26840.10; Health and Safety Code Sections 103627,
103627.5; Welfare and Institutions Code Section 18309.)
2)Authorizes a $4 fee (subject to CPI increases) for certified
copies of marriage certificates, birth certificates, and death
records to provide funding for governmental oversight and
coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention,
and prosecution efforts in Contra Costa County. (Health and
Safety Code Section 103626; Welfare and Institutions Code
Section 18308.)
3)Authorizes the Solano County Board of Supervisors, upon making
findings and declarations of the need for governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence agencies, to
increase fees for marriage licenses, confidential marriage
licenses, and certified copies of marriage certificates, fetal
death records, and death records by up to $2 (subject to CPI
increases) in order to fund governmental oversight and
coordination of domestic violence and family violence
prevention, intervention, and prosecution efforts.
(Government Code Section 26840.11; Health and Safety Code
Section 103628; Welfare and Institutions Code Section
18309.5.)
4)Authorizes the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, upon making
findings and declarations of the need for governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence agencies, to
increase fees for marriage licenses, confidential marriage
licenses, and certified copies of marriage certificates, fetal
death records, and death records by up to $2, until January 1,
2015. (Government Code Section 26840.12; Health and Safety
Code Section 103628.2; Welfare and Institutions Code Section
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18309.6.)
5)Authorizes the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors, upon
making findings and declarations of the need for governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence agencies, to
increase fees for certified copies of marriage certificates,
fetal death records, and death records by up to $2, until
January 1, 2016. (Health and Safety Code Section 103628.6;
Welfare and Institutions Code Section 18309.8.)
COMMENTS : For more than 10 years, the Legislature has
authorized, on a pilot basis, five counties, including, Alameda,
and Contra Costa, to increase fees for marriage licenses and for
marriage, birth and death certificates to fund governmental
oversight and coordination of domestic violence prevention,
intervention, and prosecution programs. These programs have
been highly successful and have led to the creation of a family
justice center in Alameda County, a youth intervention program
in the City of Berkeley and significantly greater coordination
of services in Contra Costa County. As a result of their
successes, the programs in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano
Counties and the City of Berkeley have been made permanent.
This bill seeks to allow the expansion of these programs
statewide by giving all counties the ability to raise fees for
certified copies of marriage and birth certificates and death
records by up to $5 in order to fund governmental oversight and
coordination of domestic violence prevention, intervention, and
services to victims and their families. Likewise, cities may
raise fees for certified copies of birth certificates and death
records by up to $5 in order to fund anti-domestic violence
efforts.
In support of the bill, the author writes:
Programs for domestic violence prevention are underfunded
in California. In the 2010 budget year, California, which
accounts for 13% of emergency domestic violence calls in
the United States, cut $2 million from the state budget
that was used for financing 94 domestic violence centers
and shelters. California communities need help if they
seek to limit the number of domestic violence occurrences
within their individual Counties or Cities. This Bill
seeks to help remedy the lack of funds for the prevention,
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intervention and prosecution of cases of domestic violence.
AB 1852 provides a tool to certain California Cities and
Counties by giving them the option of voting to increase,
by up to $5.00, the fees for birth certificates, death
certificates and marriage licenses. In some California
communities, there are not sufficient resources to address
the increase in domestic violence cases. This bill seeks
to assist in the fight to end the occurrence of Domestic
Violence in California Communities.
Devastating Effects of Domestic Violence on Children and
Families : Domestic violence is a serious criminal justice and
public health problem most often perpetrated against women.
(Extent, Nature and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence:
Findings from the National Violence against Women Survey, U.S.
Department of Justice (2001).) Prevalence of domestic violence
at the national level ranges from 960,000 to three million women
each year who are physically abused by their husbands or
boyfriends. While the numbers are staggering, they only include
those cases of reported domestic violence. In fact, according
to a 1998 Commonwealth Fund survey of women's health, nearly 31
percent of American women report being physically or sexually
abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives.
(Health Concerns Across a Woman's Lifespan: 1998 Survey of
Women's Health, The Commonwealth Fund (May 1999).)
Domestic violence continues to be a significant problem in
California. In 2005, the Attorney General's Task Force on
Domestic Violence reported that:
The health consequences of physical and psychological
domestic violence can be significant and long lasting, for
both victims and their children. . . . A study by the
California Department of Health Services of women's health
issues found that nearly six percent of women, or about
620,000 women per year, experienced violence or physical
abuse by their intimate partners. Women living in
households where children are present experienced domestic
violence at much higher rates than women living in
households without children: domestic violence occurred in
more than 436,000 households per year in which children
were present, potentially exposing approximately 916,000
children to violence in their homes every year.
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(Report to the California Attorney General from the Task Force
on Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence, Keeping
the Promise: Victim Safety and Batterer Accountability (June
2005) (footnotes omitted).)
That report discovered numerous significant and troubling
problems in the implementation of statutory directives aimed at
preventing domestic violence, including failing to enter
restraining orders into CLETS (California Law Enforcement
Telecommunications System) and failing to ensure that batterers
attend mandated treatment programs.
Successful Pilot Programs to Combat Domestic Violence Made
Permanent : While initially begun as pilots, the programs in
Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano Counties and the City of
Berkeley have now been made permanent. In support of making
those programs permanent, the Alameda County Board of
Supervisors wrote that the funds from the fee increases have
played a vital role in funding the coordination costs and have
"changed the way systems and service providers are delivering
essential and critical services to victims of domestic violence
and their children." The Board noted that domestic violence
deaths in the county dropped from 26 in 2001 to 3 in 2006, which
a goal of zero deaths going forward.
The Alameda County District Attorney's Office agreed, stating
that as a result of the Family Justice Center in the county
built, in part, with funds provided by the fee increases, "there
is a new (or re-newed) confidence on the part of Victims that
the legal systems work for them and that there are resources and
service providers who will work together to protect, support and
empower them and their children to have lives free of
interpersonal violence."
The Berkeley City Council told the Legislature that it uses
these funds for a youth intervention in the schools to promote
healthy relationships and prevent domestic violence, modeled
after "extremely successful peer health educator programs."
As a result of the increased funding, Contra Costa County has
been able to, among other things, increase funding for a
coordinated system and for individual agencies; increase
systemwide accountability; increase batterer accountability; and
increase protections for victims and children. Prior to the fee
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increase, individual agencies had not worked together smoothly,
but the funding increase has permitted the county to operate an
efficient and coordinated system.
Finally, last year, the Legislature made Solano County's program
permanent. The funding from Solano's program has been used to
establish, maintain and staff a family justice center in that
county.
Building on successful county programs, this bill authorizes
expansion of the programs statewide, thus avoiding a piecemeal
approach . Rather than continue what has been a county and
city-specific piecemeal approach to domestic violence prevention
efforts, this bill allows all county boards of supervisors, upon
making specified findings and declaration on the need for more
funding to combat domestic violence, to increase the fees for
certified copies of marriage and birth certificates and death
records by up to $5. Additionally, city councils can elect to
do the same for fees for birth and death records, if they happen
to provide access to them.
This bill is designed to work in tandem with the existing
domestic violence prevention programs by specifically stating
that it does not affect any other fee increase that a county or
city may have.
Proposed Amendment : As originally drafted, the bill would have
raised funds for domestic violence prevention efforts by
increasing fees for marriage licenses and confidential marriage
licenses, in addition increasing fees for certified copies of
the specified vital records. The author proposes to narrow the
bill to just increase fees on the vital records and not on
marriage certificates. The following amendments accomplish this
change:
Delete Section 2 of the bill by deleting page 2, line 34 through
page 3, line 16
On page 5, line 17, delete "Section 26840.13 of the Government
Code and"
Technical Amendment : In addition in order to ensure the bill
works appropriately, the author rightly agrees to correct a
technical concern and delete "Santa Clara County" on page 5,
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line 29 of the bill and instead insert "the county."
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The Santa Clara County Board of
Supervisors supports the bill because domestic violence is a
serious problem in the county, resulting in 16 deaths there in
2011 and over 3,860 non-lethal referrals from law enforcement to
the district attorney's office for review:
A successful response to domestic violence requires a
multifaceted and coordinated approach that takes into
consideration the needs of victims and addresses the crimes
committed by batterers. Involved agencies need to continue
to align their domestic violence policies and practices,
continue collaborative activities, and focus on common
goals. AB 1852 would allow counties and certain cities to
increase funding to provide the resources needed to achieve
these goals and strengthen their responses to domestic
violence.
The California Police Chiefs Association writes that it supports
the bill because increased fees will help with domestic violence
prevention, intervention and prosecution.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION : In opposition, to the bill, CalTax
writes:
The tax-like "fee" provided for in this bill is not an
equitable mechaniam for mitigating domestic violence. . .
. A true fee on licenses or records merely covers the
administarrtive costs of processing and printing the
license or record, as well as any administratrive staff
time used to cover the cost of provising such a service
California's past successes prove that the greatest
revenues are gained when the state's economy is growing.
When the economy improves, state revenues surge. Imposing
new taxes risks the potential recovery and return to a
healthy economy. That's why all proposed local taxes -
including fees disguised as taxes - must be subject to the
scrutiny required by a two-thirds public vote.
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association also opposes, writing
the fee increase in the bill is really a tax: "This measure
violates local government provisions of the California
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Constitution relating to Propositions 13 & 218. There is
absolutely no regulatory fee nexus between marriage licenses and
domestic violence. As such this is a special tax that requires
a two-thirds vote of either city or county residents per the
provisions of Article 13D of the constitution." However, it is
important to note that since this bill does not mandate the fee
increase, but simply allows a county or city to increase the
fee, it does not require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature.
Pending Legislation Would Create Child Abuse Oversight Funding
Programs in San Joaquin County : AB 1587 (Galgiani) would allow
San Joaquin County to increase fees for specified vital records
by $2 to fund government oversight and coordinate of efforts to
reduce child abuse.
Previous Legislation Creating Domestic Violence Oversight and
Coordination Funding Programs : SB 425 (Torlakson), Chap. 90,
Stats. 2001, established a similar domestic violence prevention
funding pilot program in Contra Costa County. SB 968
(Torlakson), Chap. 635, Stats. 2006, repealed the sunset date,
making Contra Costa's program effective indefinitely.
AB 2010 (Hancock), Chap. 830, Stats. 2004, established the pilot
programs in Alameda County and Solano County. AB 1712
(Hancock), Chap. 545, Stats. 2005, authorized the City of
Berkeley, within Alameda County, to also participate in the
pilot program. AB 73 (Hayashi), Chap. 215, Stats. 2009,
repealed the sunset date, making Alameda's and Berkeley's
programs effective indefinitely.
SB 635 (Wiggins), Chap. 356, Stats. 2009, established a similar
pilot program for Sonoma County and extended the sunset for the
pilot program in Solano County until 2011. SB 154 (Wolk), Chap.
120, Stats. 2011 made the Solano County program effective
indefinitely.
AB 1770 (Galgiani), Chap. 578, Stats. 2010, established a
similar domestic violence prevention funding pilot program in
Stanislaus County until January 1, 2016.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
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California Police Chiefs Association
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Peace Officers Research Association of California
Opposition
CalTax
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334