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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 06041985 - 1.52 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: PHIL BATCHELOR Contra County AdministratorCosta DATE: May 23, 1985 County SUBJECT: ASSEMBLY BILL 1258 (ASSEMBLY-MEMBER ROBERT CAMPBELL) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: Support AB 1258 (Campbell) which would authorize the court to impose a civil assessment of up to $250 against any defendant who fails, after notice, to appear in court for any proceeding authorized by law. FINANCIAL IMPACT: Enactment of this bill could possibly result in some increased revenue to the County, which is not possible to determine at this time. REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION/BACKGROUND: Under existing law, failure to appear in court may result in the forfeiture of bail or other property and the issuance of a bench warrant. Also, in some specified cases, the failure to appear in court is a crime, and in other cases a court may impose a penalty upon an attorney who fails to notify opposing counsel of intent to seek a continuance based on inability of a witness or defendant to appear. In many cases, bench warrants are issued for the arrest of defendants who fail to appear on relatively minor offences for which the only punishment would be a fine. Because of their enormous number, these bench warrants are not typically served by law enforcement, and when these cases do come back into the system, they tend to cause additional clerical and other workload impact upon the courts. - The ability to impose a civil assessment in these cases would give the court an additional option to those already available. It would relieve the court of the further burden of processing these cases and may result in some additional revenue to the County. This bill has the support of the municipal court judges. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDAT OF BOARD COMMITTEE _X APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S) 23 C���I�z ACTION OF BOARD ON S APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER VOTE OF SUPERVISORS UNANIMOUS (ABSENT ) I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AYES: NOES: AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN ABSENT: ABSTAIN: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CAO - Just. Sys. Programs [[ t CC: Muni Court Judges ATTESTED Muni Court Clerk-Administrators PHI6/BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Office Of Revenue Collection SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR Marshal 's Office M382/7•03 BY Ii�GL�i�%[�C�-� DEPUTY