County boards of supervisors can levy authorized fees or charges in amounts reasonably necessary to recover the costs of providing products or services or the cost of enforcing regulations. (AB 151, Hannigan, 1983). The fees or charges may reflect the average cost of providing products or services or enforcing regulations, plus limited indirect costs.
Despite generally deregulating county fees 25 years ago, state law still sets a large number of fees, including civil fees, county recorder fees, and fees charged by agricultural commissioners. It has been decades since some of the statutory limits for these fees have been updated.
Proposed Law
Senate Bill 676 increases or eliminates the statutory limits on 14 fees:
I. Federal lien certificates. Existing law allows county recorders to impose fees of up to $15 to cover the costs of furnishing a copy of any notice of federal lien, or notice or certificate affecting a federal lien. The $15 maximum has not changed since 1983 (SB 1250, Russell, 1982).
Senate Bill 676 deletes the $15 limit, allowing county recorders to set the fee in an amount that covers actual costs.
II. Environmental Quality Act filings. Existing law allows county clerks to charge a $50 per filing documentary handling fee for specified filings under the California Environmental Quality Act. The $50 amount was set in 2007 (SB 1535, Kuehl, 2006). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $50 amount and allows county clerks to charge a documentary handling fee to reimburse the county for the actual costs of services rendered.
III. Recorded documents. Existing law allows county recorders to charge a filing fee for recording and indexing every instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded. The maximum charge is $4 for the recording of the first page and $3 for each additional page, with the ability to charge additional fees as specified. The $4 maximum has not changed since 1985 (SB 2277, McCorquodale, 1984). Senate Bill 676 increases the maximum charge for the recording of the first page of a document from $4 to $10.
IV. Documents requiring additional indexing. Whenever any instrument, paper, or notice is recorded which contains references to more than one previously recorded document and which requires additional indexing by the county recorder to give notice required by law, existing law allows the recorder to charge an additional $1 fee for each reference to a previously recorded document, other than the first such reference, requiring additional indexing. The $1 amount has not changed since 1970 (SB 54, Collier, 1969). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $1 amount, allowing county recorders to charge a fee to reimburse the county for the actual costs of services rendered.
V. Documents requiring additional indexing. Whenever any instrument, paper or notice is recorded which requires additional indexing by the county recorder to give notice required by law and does not refer to a previously recorded document by reference, existing law allows the county recorder to charge an additional $1 fee for each group of 10 names, or fractional portion thereof, after the initial group of 10 names. The $1 amount has not changed since 1981 (SB 1940, Stiern, 1980). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $1 amount, allowing county recorders to charge a fee to reimburse the county for the actual costs of services rendered.
VI. Court-appointed counsel. Existing law allows a county board of supervisors to assess a registration fee of up to $25 on every defendant represented by appointed counsel.
No fee is required of any defendant who is financially unable to pay. The $25 maximum has not changed since 1997 (SB 251, Ayala, 1996). Senate Bill 676 increases the maximum amount of the fee from $25 to $50.
VII. Restitution. If a court orders that restitution be made to a crime victim, a county board of supervisors may add a fee to cover the actual administrative cost of collecting restitution, not to exceed 10% of the total amount ordered to be paid. The fees are paid into the county general fund. The 10% maximum has not changed since 1986 (SB 737, Royce, 1985). Senate Bill 676 increases the maximum fee to cover the costs of collecting restitution from 10% to 15% of the total amount ordered to be paid.
VIII. County probation department payments. Existing law requires some defendants to pay for the reasonable cost of any probation supervision or a conditional sentence, of conducting any pre-plea investigation and preparing of any pre-plea report, of conducting any pre-sentence investigation and preparing any pre-sentence report and of processing a jurisdictional transfer or of processing a request for interstate compact supervision. A county board of supervisors may establish a fee of up to $50 to cover the administrative and clerical costs of collecting the defendants' payments. The $50 maximum has not changed since 1996 (AB 594, Boland, 1995). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $50 maximum, allowing counties to charge fees to cover the administrative and clerical costs of collecting the defendants' payments.
IX. Change of plea, setting aside of a verdict. Under existing law, a person who petitions for a change of plea or setting aside of a verdict may be required to reimburse the court, the county, and the city for the actual costs of services rendered, whether or not the petition is granted and the records are sealed or expunged. The court, the county board of supervisors, and the city may determine a rate of up to $120 to reimburse the actual costs. The $120 maximum has not been changed since 1995 (AB 1327, Epple, 1994). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $120 maximum, allowing courts, counties, and cities to require reimbursement for the actual costs of services rendered.
X. Sealing of records. Under existing law, a person who was convicted of a misdemeanor when he or she was a minor at the time of the offense and who petitions for an order sealing his or her record may be required to reimburse the court, the county, and the city for the actual costs of services rendered, whether or not the petition is granted and the records are sealed or expunged. The court, the county board of supervisors, and the city may determine a rate of up to $120 to reimburse the actual costs. The $120 maximum has not changed since 1995 (AB 1327, Epple, 1994).
Senate Bill 676 deletes the $120 maximum, allowing courts, counties, and cities to require reimbursement for the actual costs of services rendered.
XI. Installment payments. Under existing law, a person who is convicted of a misdemeanor and required to pay a fine may pay the fine in specified installments. A board of supervisors may require defendants to pay to the clerk of the court or the collecting agency a fee of up to $35 to pay for the administrative and clerical costs of processing installment accounts. The $35 maximum has not changed since 1993 (AB 2409, Isenberg, 1992). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $35 maximum, allowing a board of supervisors to require a fee sufficient to pay for the administrative and clerical costs of processing installment accounts.
XII. Fingerprinting. Existing law allows a local agency taking fingerprints of a person who is an applicant for licensing, employment, or certification to charge up to $10 to cover the cost of taking the fingerprints and processing the required documents. The $10 maximum has not changed since 1987 (AB 4375, Stirling, 1986). Senate Bill 676 deletes the $10 maximum, allowing local agencies to charge a fee sufficient to cover the cost of taking the fingerprints and processing the required documents.
XIII. Support of a minor. Existing law requires that the father, mother, spouse, or other person liable for the support of a minor be liable for the reasonable costs of support of the minor while the minor is placed, detained in, or committed to any institution because of delinquency or truancy. Costs of support mean only actual costs incurred by the county for food and food preparation, clothing, personal supplies, and medical expenses, not to exceed a combined maximum of costs of $15 per day except that the maximum cost of $15 per day must be adjusted every third year beginning January 1, 1998 to reflect the percentage change in the calendar year annual average of the California Consumer Price Index, All Urban Consumers, published by the Department of Industrial Relations, for the three-year period. The $15 maximum has not changed since 1985 (AB 2379, Sher, 1984). Senate Bill 676 increases the maximum cost to $45 per day, adjusted every third year.
XIV. Sealing of juvenile records. Existing law allows counties and courts to require specified people to reimburse them up to $120 for the costs of services rendered for any investigation related to the sealing and for the sealing of any juvenile court or arrest records, whether or not the petition is granted and the records are sealed or expunged. The $120 maximum has not changed since 1995 (AB 1327, Epple, 1994). Senate Bill 676 deletes the maximum, allowing counties and courts to require reimbursement for the full costs of services rendered.
Senate Bill 676 also deletes statutory cross-references to statutes in which the bill proposes to delete limits on fees, thereby allowing the fees to be set pursuant to the general authorization for counties to recover the cost of providing any product or service or the cost of enforcing any regulation for which a fee or charge is levied. [ 6]
Comments
1. Protecting taxpayers. As costs rise and the demand for services grows, the county fees that are capped by state law no longer cover the real costs of providing the service. When fees don't generate enough money to pay for services, counties' general funds must pay the difference.
County taxpayers have to subsidize the users of these county services. Programs that depend on money from counties' general funds, like law enforcement and libraries, suffer the fiscal consequences. SB 676 does not allow county supervisors to charge new fees. It simply lets county governments charge the people who use county services fees that reflect the actual costs of providing those services.
2. Why stop there ? The fees that SB 676 adjusts are only a small portion of the county fees that state law continues to be limit. For example, the Legislature has excluded court-related fees, fees charged by a county agricultural commissioner, fees collected by a county sealer of weights and measures, and fees charged by a county recorder from the deregulation enacted by the 1983 Hannigan bill. These exemptions guarantee that county taxpayers subsidize the operations of these select government entities. Why should applicants for public employment pay the full cost for conducting fingerprint background checks, while taxpayers subsidize the cost of getting grocery store scales tested and inspected? The Committee may wish to consider whether the Legislature should completely deregulate county fees by repealing all of the specific statutory rates.
3. Double referral. Because SB 676 affects fees for court-appointed counsel, criminal records, fines, and other related topics, the Senate Rules Committee ordered a double-referral of the bill, first to the Senate Public Safety Committee and then to the Senate Local Government Committee. The Public Safety committee passed SB 676 at its April 21 hearing by a 5-2 vote.
Support: Yolo County; Santa Clara County; Humboldt County; California Public Defenders Association; California State Association of Counties (CSAC), and the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association.
Opposition: California Association of Realtors
Status: Passed out of Senate Committee on Public Safety on 4/21/09. To Senate Local Government Committee on 5/6/09.
Bill analysis from the Senate Local Government Committee consultant, 5/6/09.