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
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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
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