Bill Text: CA AB2177 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Penalty assessments: fees.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-08-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2177 Detail]
Download: California-2017-AB2177-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION
| Assembly Bill | No. 2177 |
| Introduced by Assembly Member Jones-Sawyer |
February 12, 2018 |
An act to amend Sections 11372.5 and 11372.7 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to penalty assessments.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2177, as introduced, Jones-Sawyer.
Penalty assessments: fees.
Existing law imposes a criminal laboratory analysis fee upon each person who is convicted of specified offenses. Existing law imposes a drug program fee upon each person who is convicted of specified offenses. Existing law imposes various penalty assessments upon every fine, penalty, or forfeiture imposed and collected by the courts for all criminal offenses.
This bill would specify that the criminal laboratory analysis fee and the drug program fee are not subject to specified penalty assessments. The bill would additionally delete obsolete cross references and provisions.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 11372.5 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:11372.5.
(a)With respect to those offenses specified in this subdivision for which a fine is not authorized by other provisions of law, the court shall, upon conviction, impose a fine in an amount not to exceed fifty dollars ($50), which shall constitute the increment prescribed by this section and which shall be in addition to any other penalty prescribed by law.
(b) The county treasurer shall maintain a criminalistics laboratories fund.
The sum of fifty dollars ($50) shall be deposited into the fund for every conviction under Section 11350, 11351, 11351.5, 11352, 11355, 11358, 11359, 11361, 11363, 11364, 11368, 11375, 11377, 11378, 11378.5, 11379, 11379.5, 11379.6, 11380, 11380.5, 11382, 11383, 11390, 11391, or 11550, subdivision (a) or (c) of Section 11357, or subdivision (a) of Section 11360 of this code, or Section 4230 of the Business and Professions Code, 11360, in addition to fines, forfeitures, and other moneys which are transmitted by the courts to the county treasurer pursuant to Section 11502. The deposits shall be made prior to any transfer pursuant to Section 11502. The county may retain an amount of this money equal to its administrative cost incurred
pursuant to this section. Moneys in the criminalistics laboratories fund shall, except as otherwise provided in this section, be used exclusively to fund (1) costs incurred by criminalistics laboratories providing microscopic and chemical analyses for controlled substances, in connection with criminal investigations conducted within both the incorporated or unincorporated portions of the county, (2) the purchase and maintenance of equipment for use by these laboratories in performing the analyses, and (3) for continuing education, training, and scientific development of forensic scientists regularly employed by these laboratories. Moneys in the criminalistics laboratory fund shall be in addition to any allocations pursuant to existing law. As used in this section, “criminalistics laboratory” means a laboratory operated by, or under contract with, a city, county, or other public agency, including a criminalistics laboratory of the Department of Justice, (1) which has not less than one regularly employed
forensic scientist engaged in the analysis of solid-dose controlled substances, and (2) which is registered as an analytical laboratory with the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States Department of Justice for the possession of all scheduled controlled substances. In counties served by criminalistics laboratories of the Department of Justice, amounts deposited in the criminalistics laboratories fund, after deduction of appropriate and reasonable county overhead charges not to exceed 5 percent attributable to the collection thereof, shall be paid by the county treasurer once a month to the Controller for deposit into the state General Fund, and shall be excepted from the expenditure requirements otherwise prescribed by this subdivision.
(c) The county treasurer shall, at the conclusion of each fiscal year, determine the amount of any funds remaining in the special fund established pursuant to this section after expenditures for
that fiscal year have been made for the purposes herein specified. The board of supervisors may, by resolution, assign the treasurer’s duty to determine the amount of remaining funds to the auditor or another county officer. The county treasurer shall annually distribute those surplus funds in accordance with the allocation scheme for distribution of fines and forfeitures set forth in Section 11502.
SEC. 2.
Section 11372.7 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:11372.7.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b) or (e), each person who is convicted of a violation of this chapter shall pay a drug program fee in an amount not to exceed one hundred fifty dollars ($150) for each separate offense. The court shall increase the total fine, if necessary, to include this increment, which shall be in addition to any other penalty prescribed by law. The drug program fee shall not be subject to penalty assessments authorized in Section 1464 of the Penal Code, Sections 70372 or 70373 of ther Government Code, or Chapter 12 (commencing with Section 76000) of Title 8 of the Government Code, or the state surcharge authorized in Section 1465.7 of the Penal Code.(b) The court shall determine whether or not the person who is convicted of a violation of this chapter has the ability to pay a drug program fee. If the court determines that the person has the ability to pay, the court may set the amount to be paid and order the person to pay that sum to the county in a manner that the court believes is reasonable and compatible with the person’s financial ability. In its determination of whether a person has the ability to pay, the court shall take into account the amount of any fine imposed upon that person and any amount that person has been ordered to pay in restitution. If the court determines that the person does not have the ability to pay a drug program fee, the person shall not be required to pay a drug program fee.
(c) The county treasurer shall maintain a drug program fund. For every drug program fee assessed and collected pursuant to
subdivisions (a) and (b), an amount equal to this assessment shall be deposited into the fund for every conviction pursuant to this chapter, in addition to fines, forfeitures, and other moneys which are transmitted by the courts to the county treasurer pursuant to Sections 11372.5 and 11502. These deposits shall be made prior to any transfer pursuant to Section 11502. Amounts deposited in the drug program fund shall be allocated by the administrator of the county’s drug program to drug abuse programs in the schools and the community, subject to the approval of the board of supervisors, as follows:
(1) The moneys in the fund shall be allocated through the planning process established pursuant to Sections 11983, 11983.1, 11983.2, and 11983.3.
(2) A minimum of 33 percent of the fund shall be allocated to primary prevention programs in the schools and the community. Primary
prevention programs developed and implemented under this article shall emphasize cooperation in planning and program implementation among schools and community drug abuse agencies, and shall demonstrate coordination through an interagency agreement among county offices of education, school districts, and the county drug program administrator. These primary prevention programs may include:
(A) School- and classroom-oriented programs, including, but not limited to, programs designed to encourage sound decisionmaking, an awareness of values, an awareness of drugs and their effects, enhanced self-esteem, social and practical skills that will assist students toward maturity, enhanced or improved school climate and relationships among all school personnel and students, and furtherance of cooperative efforts of school- and community-based personnel.
(B) School- or community-based
nonclassroom alternative programs, or both, including, but not limited to, positive peer group programs, programs involving youth and adults in constructive activities designed as alternatives to drug use, and programs for special target groups, such as women, ethnic minorities, and other high-risk, high-need populations.
(C) Family-oriented programs, including, but not limited to, programs aimed at improving family relationships and involving parents constructively in the education and nurturing of their children, as well as in specific activities aimed at preventing drug abuse.
(d) Moneys deposited into a county drug program fund pursuant to this section shall supplement, and shall not supplant, any local funds made available to support the county’s drug abuse prevention and treatment efforts.
(e) This section
shall not apply to any person convicted of a violation of subdivision (b) of Section 11357 of the Health and Safety Code.
