To: Board of Supervisors
From: Probation
Agenda Section: Consent
SUBJECT:
title
Resolution for the Discharge of all Outstanding Juvenile Probation and Juvenile Public Defender Fees, per Senate Bill 1290
end
RECOMMENDATION(S):
Recommendation
That the Board of Supervisors:
1. Adopt the attached resolution to discharge all outstanding juvenile probation and juvenile public defender fees and authorize the Humboldt County Probation Department to write-off remaining balances.
Body
SOURCE OF FUNDING:
N/A
DISCUSSION:
Effective January 1, 2018 Senate Bill 190 (SB-190) prohibited the imposition of county-assessed or court-ordered fees in juvenile cases. This legislation only impacted fees and had no bearing on victim restitution, or restitution fines or court fines. The bill was not effective retroactively and thus collection efforts on juvenile fees imposed prior to January 1, 2018 continued.
In 2020, the COVID pandemic hit and the Franchise Tax Board announced that it would temporarily halt its Interagency Intercept Program which allows government agencies to intercept state tax refunds and state lottery winnings to pay court-ordered debts. Due to this temporary loss of one of the more effective collection methods at Humboldt County Probation Department's (HCPD) disposal, as well as pending legislation (Senate Bill 1290) to prohibit collection efforts for these fees from continuing, HCPD initiated an informal moratorium on the collection of these fees and took no further action to actively collect.
In September 2020, Californian Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1290 (SB-1290) which prohibits the imposition of financial liability on the parents of a minor who has been adjudged a ward of the juvenile court for certain county-assessed or court-ordered fees. The bill is effective January 1, 2021. The attached resolution will take formal action to discharge these debts, which total $1,053,947.55, absolve HCPD of the obligation to take collec...
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