On July 19, 2016, the Board of Supervisors referred to the Public Protection Committee a review of fees assessed for services provided while a minor is in the custody of the Probation Department. Welfare and Institutions Code 903 et seq. provides that the County may assess a fee for the provision of services to a minor in the custody of its Probation Department. This request was following a statewide discussion as to whether or not these fees should be imposed by counties on the parents or legal guardians of minors in the custody of the County.
The Public Protection Committee heard this item on September 26, 2016 and forwarded the issue to the Board of Supervisors for discussion. Ultimately, on October 25, 2016 the Board adopted Resolution No. 2016/606, which established a moratorium on the assessment and collection of juvenile fees. Concurrently, the Board directed staff to return to the Public Protection Committee and forward a recommendation back to the Board by May 31, 2017.
On March 6, 2017, the Committee received an update from the County Probation Officer on the status of juvenile fees and the current moratorium. At that time the Committee recommended that the juvenile fees subject to the temporary moratorium be permanently repealed and directed staff to return to the Committee with a recommendation as to how to refund certain juvenile justice fees that were erroneously charged by the County.
On July 10, 2017, the Committee received an update from the Probation Department. Specifically, the Probation Department reviewed four years (11/1/12-11/1/16) of information and examined 5,497 Juvenile Hall administrative fee accounts. Of the 5,497 accounts, the department received full or partial payments on 1,652 accounts, which is a 30% collection rate. The Probation Department reviewed all 1,652 accounts to determine if there were any overpayments for minors in custody at Juvenile Hall where payments were made even though there was not a sustained petition. This included minors who were charged as adults but were housed in Juvenile Hall, regardless of the final disposition. Of the 1,652 accounts, Probation determined there were 224 accounts, which is 14% of the accounts, where an overpayment was made for a total of $58,172. It should be noted that of the 224 accounts, 17 accounts involved minors who were charged as adults. 15 of the 17 adult files matters resulted in convictions, while the other 2 matters were eventually referred to juvenile court and the petitions were sustained. The total dollar amount for the 17 adult file accounts is $33,033. The 3 largest overpayments, one for $6,000 and two for $8,000, totaling roughly $22,000, were adult file matters, which eventually resulted in convictions.
Following discussion, the Committee directed staff to forward a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors to permanently repeal the Juvenile Cost of Care and Electronic Surveillance of Minors fees. Subsequently, the Board of Supervisors considered the Committee's recommendation on Tuesday, September 19, 2017. The Board approved the immediate repeal of the Juvenile Cost of Care fee and introduced an ordinance to effectuate the repeal of the Electronic Surveillance of Minors fee and scheduled adoption for the September 26, 2017 Board meeting. The ordinance was adopted by the Board, as scheduled, on September 26th and takes effect 30 days following passage.
On October 2, 2017, the Probation Department updated the Committee on its review of potential refunds of juvenile cost of care fees. The Committee directed staff to forward the issue to the full Board with a recommendation to refund fees paid on behalf of certain minors in custody at the Juvenile Hall, specifically for minors without a sustained petition, including minors charged as adults and convicted of the adult charges. In addition, the Committee directed staff to return with an update on review of juvenile electronic monitoring fee charges and return at a future Committee date.
On December 12, 2017, the Board of Supervisors authorized a refund process to be commenced by the Probation Department, including the notification of impacted individuals and those that may have been impacted.
On April 12, 2018, the Committee received an update that on the Juvenile Electronic Monitoring (JEM) Fee and the Juvenile Cost of Care Fee. Following the Board of Supervisors authorizing a refund process, the Probation Department had sent letters to all 520 accounts that were identified as being owed an overpayment refund. County staff had prepared refunds to be distributed to the account holders, including statutorily authorized interest. |