BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 1203 (Calderon) - Driving under the influence: reward for
reporting.
Amended: May 1, 2012 Policy Vote: T&H 7-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Mark McKenzie
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: SB 1203 would establish a $100 reward for a person
who reports a driver convicted of driving under the influence
(DUI).
Fiscal Impact:
Annual costs of over $500,000 (Motor Vehicle Account) for
the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to establish and
administer a statewide DUI reward program that requires the
collection of identifying information from persons reporting
a DUI and providing that information to the local or state
agency responsible for disbursing the reward.
Unknown reimbursable mandate costs, potentially tens of
millions of dollars annually (General Fund) for local law
enforcement to establish and operate programs for collecting
identifying information from persons reporting a DUI
offender and providing that information to the local or
state agency responsible for disbursing the reward.
Unknown costs, potentially in the millions of dollars
annually (General Fund) to an undetermined state entity if a
state agency is named as the entity responsible for
administering the collection of identifying information from
law enforcement agencies and interfacing with courts and
persons eligible to receive a reward related to a DUI
conviction.
Potential reimbursable mandate costs in the millions of
dollars annually (General Fund) if countywide local entities
are named as the agencies responsible for administering the
collection of identifying information from law enforcement
agencies and interfacing with courts and persons eligible to
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receive a reward related to a DUI conviction.
Likely minor costs to the courts (Trial Court Trust Fund)
to include a requirement in the post-conviction DUI judicial
orders that the offender pay the reward after all other
penalties, fines, and payments are made.
Background: Existing law makes it unlawful for any person who is
under the influence of any alcoholic beverage or drug, or both,
to drive a vehicle. In addition, existing law makes it unlawful
for any person, while having 0.08 percent or more, by weight, of
alcohol in his or her blood, to drive a vehicle. These offenses
are referred to as DUI offenses.
The CHP Manual currently mentions a DUI Reporter's Reward
Program in which local law enforcement agencies issue $100 cash
rewards as an incentive to report suspected DUI drivers. A
local non-profit organization is responsible for establishing,
funding, and monitoring the program in each community. The law
enforcement agencies accept in-coming calls, issue each caller
an anonymous identification number, and notify the administering
financial institution when a caller is eligible for the reward.
The participating financial institution then issues a check to
the caller. Anecdotal evidence suggests that only one very
small program using this mechanism was ever established, and it
ceased to operate after a short time due to a lack of funding to
administer the program and issue the awards.
Proposed Law: SB 1203 would authorize a person who reports a
driver who is later convicted of a DUI offense to receive a $100
reward, which the court would order the driver to pay. The bill
would require CHP or any other law enforcement agency that
receives a report of a suspected DUI offender to provide the
reporting person's identifying information to the state or local
agency responsible for disbursing the reward. The bill requires
victim restitution and every other fine, penalty, assessment,
reimbursement, or forfeiture imposed pursuant to a conviction to
be paid and collected in full prior to paying the reward.
Staff Comments: Although not explicit in the bill, SB 1203 would
presumably require law enforcement entities to collect
identifying information from persons reporting a suspected DUI
offender. CHP costs to establish and administer a statewide DUI
reward program are unknown, but likely in excess of $500,000
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annually. Prior to initiating a program, CHP would be required
to: update policies and procedures; coordinate with cities,
counties, courts, and other law enforcement agencies; and
conduct training for all CHP uniformed and dispatch personnel.
Upon implementation, CHP staff would collect, maintain, and
transfer identifying data to the agency disbursing rewards, as
well as continuously monitor and evaluate the program. Staff
notes that local law enforcement agencies would also be required
to establish and administer their own DUI reward programs, and
it is assumed that the bill would impose the same duties on
locals. By imposing new duties on local law enforcement, this
bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Reimbursable
costs are unknown, but could be in the tens of millions
statewide. For example, if local reimbursable costs were only
$100,000 annually, statewide costs would be $10 million for
every 100 local law enforcement agencies that establish a DUI
reward program.
SB 1203 does not name a state or local agency responsible for
disbursing reward funds, so costs to administer the collection
of identifying information of persons eligible for a reward from
law enforcement, interfacing with the courts, and disbursing
rewards are unknown. Staff estimates that costs for a statewide
agency to administer such a program would likely be in the low
millions of dollars annually. If such a program were to be
administered on a county level, the bill would impose
reimbursable state-mandated local costs on county officials.
Again, costs are unknown, but likely in the millions of dollars
annually. For illustrative purposes, if local costs were
$300,000 in each of 58 counties, state-reimbursable costs would
be $17.4 million annually.
Recommended Amendments: The bill is unclear on the
responsibilities of administering a DUI reward program. Staff
assumes that the collection of information from persons
reporting a suspected DUI violator would be performed by state
and local law enforcement entities, but it is unclear who law
enforcement would report that information to and how that
unnamed entity would interface with the courts and persons who
may be eligible for the reward. Staff recommends that the bill
be amended to name a responsible entity and clarify the
logistics of the program.
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