BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1852
Page 1
GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 1852 (Campos)
As Amended July 3, 2012
2/3 vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |49-24|(April 26, |SENATE: |22-16|(August 9, |
| | |2012) | | |2012) |
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|ASSEMBLY: |54-21|(August 13, | | | |
| | |2012) | | | |
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Original Committee Reference: JUD.
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 violence 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; and,
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
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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
increase be used as follows:
a) Sixty percent of fee increase collected from marriage
certificates and death records to be directed to
community-based nonprofit organizations serving domestic
violence victims and their families;
b) Forty percent of fee increase collected from marriage
certificates and death records to be directed to 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 and
early intervention of domestic and family violence; and,
c) Fee increase collected from birth certificates to be
deposited in county children's trust fund to fund agencies
and organizations in the county seeking to increase
effectiveness and prevention and early intervention of child
abuse and neglect. If the county does not have a children's
trust fund, increase to the State Children's Trust Fund.
3)Allows the county or city, as appropriate, to retain up to 4% 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.
The Senate amendments specify how the fee increase may be used.
EXISTING LAW :
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar to
the version approved by the Senate, but limited use of fee
increases to governmental oversight and coordination of domestic
violence and family violence prevention, intervention, and
prosecution efforts.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
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 domestic violence and child abuse programs
and governmental oversight and coordination of domestic violence
prevention and early intervention. 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 and child
abuse efforts.
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% of American women report
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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).)
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 and child abuse, 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.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"This bill would allow counties and cities with local registrars
to place an additional fee of up to $5 on certified copies of
marriage, birth, death and fetal death records to fund local
domestic violence and child abuse prevention programs.
"Domestic violence and child abuse prevention programs are well
worth the investment of public funds, but seeking a fee increase
on vital records, when the fee is already going up by $6 for some
of these records, would burden people of modest means.
"We must keep working to find ways to support the programs we
value, while making government leaner and more responsive to those
we serve."
Analysis Prepared by : Leora Gershenzon / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
FN: 0005979
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