BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 16
Author: Gaines (R)
Amended: 5/21/13
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 7-0, 5/15/13
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Emmerson, Hernandez, Liu
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-0, 1/23/14
AYES: De Le�n, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters
SUBJECT : Administration of justice: county costs:
nonhomicide criminal trials
SOURCE : Nevada County
DIGEST : This bill authorizes a county that is responsible for
the defense costs of a trial or hearing of a person charged with
a nonhomicide crime to apply to the State Controller for
reimbursement of the costs incurred by the county in excess of
the amount of money derived by the county from a tax of 0.0125
of 1% of the full value of property assessed for purposes of
taxation within the county. This authority applies only to
trials beginning on or after January 1, 2012, for which the
Attorney General (AG) is handling the investigation and
prosecution of a nonhomicide crime.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes counties to apply to the
Controller for reimbursement of homicide trial and hearing costs
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that exceed a specified percentage of assessed property value in
the county. Counties may apply to the Controller's Office (SCO)
for reimbursement of homicide investigation and trial costs that
exceed the amount of money that would be derived by a tax of
0.0125 of 1% of the full value of assessed property in the
county (AB 2866, Migden, Chapter 127, Statutes of 2000).
This bill authorizes a county that is responsible for the
defense costs of a trial or hearing of a person charged with a
nonhomicide crime to apply to the Controller for reimbursement
of the costs incurred by the county in excess of the amount of
money derived by the county from a tax of 0.0125 of 1% of the
full value of property assessed for purposes of taxation within
the county. This authority applies only to trials beginning on
or after January 1, 2012, of a person charged with a nonhomicide
crime, when the AG is handling the investigation and prosecution
due to the scope and complexity of the case, and not when a
district attorney has been recused for a conflict of interest or
for any other reason unrelated to the scope and complexity of
the case.
This bill defines "costs incurred by the county" as all costs,
except normal salaries and expenses, incurred by the county in
defending at trial, including the trial of, a person for the
offense of a nonhomicide crime. Trial defense costs include:
Costs, except normal salaries and expenses, incurred by the
public defender in investigation and defense.
All pretrials, hearings, and postconviction proceedings.
With specified exceptions, this bill prohibits reimbursements
for:
Costs that exceed the California Victim Compensation and
Government Claims Board's standards for travel and per diem
expenses.
Travel in excess of 1,000 miles on any single round trip.
This bill requires that, subject to appropriation by the
Legislature, reimbursement funds must be available for three
fiscal years from the date of the appropriation. After three
years unused funds revert back to the state General Fund (GF).
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This bill requires the Controller, subject to appropriation by
the Legislature, to provide reimbursement for specified defense
costs of attorneys or investigators if the venue for trial of a
nonhomicide criminal case is changed from a county that is
eligible for reimbursement to another county.
If a county that is eligible for reimbursement applies to the
Controller, and the Controller determines that the reimbursement
meets the provisions of state law, this bill requires the
Controller to request that the Director of the Department of
Finance include any amounts necessary in a request for a
deficiency appropriation in augmentation of the emergency fund.
This bill authorizes the Controller to adopt rules and
regulations to carry out the bill's purposes.
Background
The Legislature adopted the policy of reimbursing counties for
extraordinary costs related to homicide trials in 1961 in order
to provide uniform administration of justice throughout the
state, to prevent homicide trials from being hampered or delayed
due to lack of funds available to counties for such purposes, to
prevent serious impairment of county finances by homicide
trials, and to provide state assistance in emergency situations.
According to the SCO, five counties have qualified for over $1
million in reimbursement from the state GF over the past three
fiscal years for costs associated with 10 homicide trials.
The United States Supreme Court's opinion in Gideon v.
Wainwright (1963) held that the U.S. Constitution's Sixth
Amendment guarantee of counsel is a fundamental right which
applies to all state criminal prosecutions. Existing law
requires that counsel must be provided at public expense to an
indigent defendant charged with any felony or misdemeanor.
In Nevada County, on September 20, 2012, four suspects were
arrested and charged with securities fraud, conspiracy, and
elder abuse for operating a Ponzi scheme that allegedly bilked
dozens of investors of over $2.3 million. The arrests were the
result of an investigation conducted by the State Department of
Justice's Special Crimes Unit (SCU), which coordinates the
investigation and prosecution of crimes involving large-scale,
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investment and financial frauds, public corruption cases, and
high-tech crimes where the scope and complexity of offenses
exceed the investigative and prosecutorial resources of local
law enforcement and other state agencies. The criminal case is
being prosecuted by the Attorney General's Mortgage Fraud Strike
Force. Nevada County has a very small public defenders office
with limited resources. County officials indicate that costs to
provide counsel for indigent defendants in such a major and
complex real estate fraud case could have a severe impact on the
county's finances.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Unknown, potentially significant GF costs in a given fiscal
year in which an authorized claim is received. It is likely
that claims will be intermittent and would not exceed
hundreds of thousands in costs in a given year. Costs would
depend upon the number of cases investigated and prosecuted
by the AG that result in significant indigent defense costs
for an affected county that exceed the threshold for
reimbursement.
Minor and absorbable costs to the SCO, assuming very few
claims are submitted annually by eligible counties.
SUPPORT : (Verified 1/27/14)
Nevada County (source)
California Public Defenders Association
California State Association of Counties
Lassen County
Rural County Representatives of California
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Supporters note that this bill is
narrowly crafted and seeks to address only very complex and
costly cases that threaten to overwhelm a county's ability to
provide an appropriate defense. The reimbursement program only
would apply to cases in which the Attorney General is handling
the prosecution.
AB:k 1/27/14 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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