SB 16, as amended, Gaines. Administration of justice: county costs: nonhomicide criminal trials.
Existing law authorizes a county that is responsible for the cost of a trial or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense of homicide to apply to the Controller for reimbursement of the costs incurred by the county in excess of a specified amount subject to certain limitations. Existing law defines “costs incurred by the county” to mean, among other things, all costs, including the trial or trials of a person or persons for the offense of homicide, including costs incurred by the district attorney in investigation and prosecution, by the sheriff in investigation, by the public defender or court-appointed attorney or attorneys in investigation and defense, and all other costs incurred by the county in connection with bringing the person or persons to trial, including the trial itself. Existing law authorizes the Controller to establish rules and regulations to carry out these provisions.
This bill would, when the Attorney General is handling the investigation and prosecution of a nonhomicide crime in a county, as specified, authorize the county that is responsible for the defense costs of a trial or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense of a nonhomicide crime to apply to the Controller for reimbursement of the defense costs incurred by the countybegin delete in excess of that same amount andend delete subject to those same limitations. The bill would make this authorization applicable to any nonhomicide criminal trial or trials or any hearing commencing on or after January 1, 2012. The bill would authorize the Controller to adopt rules and regulations to carry out these provisions.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2⁄3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 15205)
2is added to Part 6 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code,
3to read:
4
The Legislature declares that: (1) the uniform
9administration of justice throughout the state is a matter of
10statewide interest; (2) the defense and conduct of trials of persons
11accused of nonhomicide crimes should not be hampered or delayed
12by any lack of funds available to the counties for these purposes;
13(3) a county should not be required to bear the entire defense costs
14of a trial involving a nonhomicide crime if these costs will seriously
15impair the finances of the county; and (4) it is the intention of the
16Legislature in enacting this chapter to provide for state assistance
17to counties in these emergency situations.
As used in this chapter, “costs incurred by the county”
19means all costs, except normal salaries and expenses, incurred by
20the county in defending at trial or trials, including the trial or trials
21of a person or persons for the offense of a nonhomicide crime,
22including costs, except normal salaries and expenses, incurred by
23the public defender in investigation and defense. Trial defense
P3 1costs shall also include all pretrials, hearings, and postconviction
2proceedings, if any.
(a) Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, when
4the Attorney General is handling the investigation and prosecution
5of a nonhomicide crime in a county, as specified in subdivision
6(b), the county that is responsible for the defense costs of a trial
7or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense of a nonhomicide
8crime may apply to the Controller for reimbursement of the costs
9incurred by the countybegin delete in excess of the amount of money derived
10by the county from a tax of 0.0125 of 1 percent of the full value
11of property assessed for
purposes of taxation within the countyend delete
12(b) The county authorization in subdivision (a) shall apply to
13any nonhomicide criminal trial or trials or any hearing commencing
14on or after January 1, 2012. The county authorization in subdivision
15(a) shall apply only to a trial or trials when the Attorney General
16is handling investigation and prosecution of a nonhomicide crime
17due to the scope and complexity of the case, and not when the
18Attorney General is handling the prosecution of a nonhomicide
19crime because a district attorney has been recused solely to avoid
20a conflict of interest or for any other reason unrelated to the scope
21and complexity of the case.
22(c) The Controller shall not reimburse any county for costs that
23exceed the California Victim Compensation and Government
24Claims
Board’s standards for travel and per diem expenses. The
25Controller may reimburse extraordinary costs in unusual cases if
26the county provides sufficient justification of the need for these
27expenditures. This section shall not permit the reimbursement of
28costs for travel in excess of 1,000 miles on any single round trip,
29without the prior approval of the Attorney General.
30(d) Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, reimbursement
31funds appropriated pursuant to this section shall be available for
32three fiscal years from the date of the appropriation. After three
33fiscal years, any unused funds shall revert back to the General
34Fund.
If the venue for trial of a nonhomicide criminal case
36has been changed from the county that is eligible for reimbursement
37under Section 15205.4 to another county, and the public defender
38of that county has entered into a contract with an attorney to try
39the case or an investigator to assist in the trial of the case, the
40Controller shall, upon appropriation by the Legislature, reimburse
P4 1the county for the actual defense costs of the attorney or
2investigator under this section, at an hourly rate not to exceed the
3hourly rate charged to state agencies by the Attorney General for
4similar attorney services or investigators, without a further showing
5of justification. This section shall not permit the reimbursement
6of costs for travel in excess of
1,000 miles on any single round
7trip, without the prior approval of the Attorney General.
If the county meets the conditions described in Section
915205.4 and applies to the Controller for reimbursement pursuant
10to that section, and the Controller determines that the
11reimbursement meets the provisions of Section 15205.2, the
12Controller shall request that the Director of Finance include any
13amounts necessary to fulfill the purposes of Section 15205.4
14annually in a request for a deficiency appropriation in augmentation
15of the emergency fund.
Subject to the rulemaking provisions of the
17Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
18Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2), the Controller
19may adopt rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this
20chapter.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
22immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
23the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
24immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
25In order to authorize a county that is responsible for the defense
26costs of a trial or trials or any hearing of a person for the offense
27of a nonhomicide crime, when the Attorney General is handling
28the prosecution of a nonhomicide crime in the county, to apply to
29the Controller for reimbursement of the defense costs incurred by
30the county, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
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