HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 05201986 - 1.29 To BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
FROM: Phil Batchelor Vla-Ara
County Administrator C )sta
DATE'. May 15 , 1986 COU*
SUBJECT: Legislation: Assembly Bill 3831 (McClintock)
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION•
Adopt a position of opposition to AB 3831 by Assemblyman
McClintock.
BACKGROUND:
Existing law provides that 50% of the fines and forfeitures
collected for certain littering offenses be transferred to cities
and counties to be expended for litter clean-up activities.
Assemblyman McClintock has introduced AB 3.831, which would do all
of the following:
1 . Make littering offenses misdemeanors. rather than
infractions;
2. Increase the minimum fine for littering offenses
from $20 to $250.
3 . Transfer all of the resulting fine and forfeiture
revenue to the State to be used for litter clean-up
activities..
The Clerk-Administrator of the Walnut Creek-Danville Municipal
Court recommends that the Board of Supervisors oppose AB 3831 for
the following reasons:
1 . Making littering offenses misdemeanors rather than
infractions allows the defendant to request the services of
the Public Defender and to demand a jury trial thereby
adding to the Public Defender' s workload and the cost of
operating the courts.
2. Increasing the fine for littering may well be justified.
However, an increase from $20 to $250 seems excessive,
particularly when the penalty assessments are added. With
penalty assessments the fine for littering offenses would be
$425, which will almost surely convice many defendants to
ask for a jury trial.
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE:
k- RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR _ RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE
X - APPROVE OTHER
SIGNATURE S : Z&U
ACTION OF BOARD ON NjaX� 20, 1986 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
--�_� 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
UNANIMOUS (ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
cc: County Administrator ATTESTED �(� /9 F4
Roy Chiesa, WC-Danville Muni Court PHIL BATCHELOR, CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
Assemblyman Tom McClintock
Kathy Snodgrass, Jackson/Barish SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
M382/7-83 BY e 17,6 ,DEPUTY
Page 2
3 . Transferring all fine and forfeiture revenue to the State,
particularly when viewed in the context of the other
requirements of the bill, would impose substantial
additional work on the courts and remove all sources of
revenue to pay for those increased costs.
For these reasons, the Clerk-Administrator of the Walnut
Creek-Danville Municipal Court recommends that the Board oppose
AB 3831, and this office concurs in that recommendation.