Bill Text: CA AB2264 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Debt collection: homeless youth.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2010-09-23 - Vetoed by Governor. [AB2264 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB2264-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2264	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 6, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member De Leon

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2010

    An act to amend Section 1 of, and to amend the heading of
Division 3 (commencing with Section 1427) of, the Civil Code,
relating to civil law.   An act to add Section 1463.011
to the Penal Code, relating to debt colle   ction. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2264, as amended, De Leon.  Civil law: obligations.
  Debt collection: homeless youth.  
   Existing law requires the Judicial Council to adopt guidelines for
a comprehensive program concerning the collection of moneys owed for
fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments imposed by
court order.  
   This bill would prohibit the issuance of an order for the
garnishment of a bank account or the earnings of a homeless youth, as
defined, for fees, fines, forfeitures, or penalties imposed by a
court due to the violation of state or local law related to truancy,
loitering, curfew violations, or illegal lodging. This bill would
provide that an order for garnishment may be issued if it is proven,
by a preponderance of the evidence, that the youth against whom the
garnishment is sought does not qualify as a homeless youth. The bill
would make related findings and declarations.  
   Existing law titles the 3rd division of the Civil Code as
Obligations.  
   This bill would change that title to be Legal Obligations.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:  
   (a) There are approximately 1.6 million homeless youths
nationwide, according to the United States Department of Justice.
 
   (b) Youths become homeless and disconnected from their parents for
three primary reasons:  
   (1) They flee homes that have become dangerous.  
   (2) Their parents force them from their homes.  
   (3) As a matter of state policy, foster youths, who have been
abused or neglected, are forced onto the streets on their 18th
birthdays.  
   (c) Shelters are frequently full or predominantly serve adult
homeless persons. These shelters, even when they have available
space, can be dangerous for youths.  
   (d) Despite all of the this, homeless youths are routinely
ticketed for offenses that are the inevitable symptoms of the
homelessness that adults have imposed upon them. These offenses
include truancy, loitering, curfew violations, and illegal lodging.
 
   (e) The California Research Bureau has documented that if a
homeless youth fails to show up to contest or pay a ticket, that
homeless youth's wages or bank accounts may be garnished and his or
her credit report may be damaged.  
   (f) Garnishment of the wages and savings of a homeless youth and
the damage to his or her credit report makes it far harder for
homeless youths, attempting to pull themselves up by their
bootstraps, to rent their own apartments and end their homelessness
by their own willpower and initiative.  
   (g) The state should not tolerate practices that promote
homelessness among its young people. It should certainly not do so by
taking sums of money from homeless youths trying earnestly to work
and save their way out of their homelessness, when it is the state
and adults who have forced these youths into homelessness in the
first place.  
   (h) Moreover, crimes are often made crimes to dissuade individuals
from engaging in unwanted behavior. But, homeless youths are not
homeless by election. Thus, because taking money from homeless youths
makes it more, and not less, likely that they will continue to be
homeless, these practices actually encourage the commission of
offenses the laws are meant to dissuade, such as vagrancy and
loitering.  
   (i) It is therefore in the best interest of the state to
discourage practices that make it more difficult for youths who are
homeless by the hand of adults to obtain housing on their own,
through their own hard work, against significant odds, without
exculpating them from the offenses they commit. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 1463.011 is added to the 
 Penal Code   , to read:  
   1463.011.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an
order shall not be issued for the garnishment of a bank account or
the earnings of a homeless youth for failure to pay fees, fines,
forfeitures, or other penalties imposed by a court due to the
violation of a state or local law related to truancy, loitering,
curfew violations, or illegal lodging.
   (b) Subdivision (a) shall not apply if it is proven, by a
preponderance of the evidence, that the youth against whom the
garnishment is sought does not qualify as a "homeless youth" as
defined in subdivision (c).
   (c) For purposes of this section, "homeless youth" means a person
younger than 25 years of age who has violated a provision of state or
local law related to loitering, truancy, curfew, or illegal lodging
and who lacks a fixed, regular, adequate nighttime residence.
"Homeless youth" includes, but is not limited to, a person who, due
to loss of housing, lack of adequate alternative accommodation,
economic hardship, or because he or she is awaiting placement in
foster care, presently resides in any of the following:
   (1) The home of a person who is not his or her parent or legal
guardian.
   (2) A motel, hotel, or campground.
   (3) An emergency transitional shelter or hospital.
   (4) A public or private place that is not designed or ordinarily
used for a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings,
including, but not limited to, a park or other public space, an
abandoned building, an automobile or other vehicle, or a bus or train
station.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 1 of the Civil Code is
amended to read:
   1.  This Act shall be known as The Civil Code of the State of
California, and is in Four Divisions, as follows:

     I.--THE FIRST RELATING TO PERSONS.
    II.--THE SECOND TO PROPERTY.
   III.--THE THIRD TO LEGAL OBLIGATIONS.
   IV.--THE FOURTH CONTAINS GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE THREE
PRECEDING DIVISIONS.
 
  SEC. 2.    The heading of Division 3 (commencing
with Section 1427) of the Civil Code is amended to read:

      DIVISION 3.  LEGAL OBLIGATIONS