As of April 4, 2021, the outstanding balance due to the victim restitution administrative fee and drug diversion fee is approximately $7.5 million (a list of each individual account is attached). Collection on these balances have been suspended pursuant to the County's moratorium on certain criminal justice fees. As such the FY 2020/2021 and FY 2021/22 budgets did not include any revenue from these fees. Both fees had historically been used to fund the County's subsidy of the Superior Court's operations. The outstanding balances for these two fees is as follows:
| Fee Description |
# of Defendants |
Balance Owed |
Average Balance |
Average Time of Since Assessment (Years) |
| Drug Diversion Fee |
1,459 |
$391,001 |
$268 |
6 |
| Victim Restitution Admin Fee |
5,273 |
$7,136,606 |
$1,353 |
12 |
| Total |
6,732 |
$7,527,606 |
$1,118 |
|
Since the Superior Court is currently removing numerous fees from their accounting system in response to Assembly Bill 1869, no addtional costs (system programming, staff time, etc.) would be charged to the County if the County decides to discharge the balances of the Drug Diversion Fees and Victim Restitution Administrative Fees. However, if the balances were to be discharged at a future date, either through County action or new legislation, the County would incur addtional costs (programming costs, Court staff time, etc.) to remove the fees from the Court's system.
On September 17, 2019, the Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution No. 2019/522 (attached) to place a moratorium on the assessment and collection of certain criminal justice fees. The moratorium has remained in effect since adoption by the Board.
On April 26, 2021, the Public Protection Committee recieved an update on the county moratorium, including the impact of Assemby Bill (AB) 1869 (Criminal Fees) which, effective July 1, 2021, repeals the authority to collect various criminal justice administrative fees and makes the unpaid balance unenforceable and uncollectible and would require any portion of a judgment imposing those costs to be vacated. The County fees impacted by AB 1869 are the public defense fee, various probation fees, criminal justice administration fee (Sheriff Booking Fee), and various sheriff alternative custody fees. Assessment and collection of these fees have been suspended pursuant to the County's moratorium. The collection of fees related to public defense, probation, and the Sheriff booking fee is managed by the Superior Court. Pursuant to AB 1869, the Superior Court is taking action to remove the outstandling balances for the public defense fee, the probation fees, and the Sheriff booking fee. The Superior Court requested direction on if the County wished to discharge the outstanding balances of Drug Diversion Fee and Victim Restitution Administrative Fee, fees suspended by the County’s moratorium but not repealed by AB 1869. The Drug Diversion Fee is an administrative fee for cases where the defendant is sentenced to a pre-trial drug diversion program. The Victim Restitution Administrative Fee is a 15% fee charged on any restitution ordered but not yet paid at the time of account set-up. Discharging this fee would not impact the collection of victim restitution. It was noted that new legislation was introduced this year, Senate Bill 586 (Criminal Fees), which would eliminate the Drug Diversion and Victim Restitution Administrative fees. The Public Protection Committee directed staff to forward a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors to request the Superior Court to extinguish the outstanding balances related to the Victim Restitution Administrative Fee and the Drug Diversion Fee.
The Superior Court will keep the outstanding balances for the Victim Restitution Administrative Fee and the Drug Diversion Fee in their billing system.