Cal. Penal Code § 1463.007
Proceedings in Misdemeanor and Infraction Cases
Redline — January 1, 2011 → current.View current text →
Current — January 1, 2025
As of January 1, 2011
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any county or court that implements or has implemented a comprehensive program to identify and collect delinquent fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments, including, but not limited to, public defender fees, with or without a warrant having been issued against the alleged violator, if the base fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments are delinquent, may deduct and deposit in the county treasury or in the trial court operations fund the cost of operating that program, excluding capital expenditures, from any revenues collected thereby prior to making any distribution of revenues to other governmental entities required by any other provision of law. Any county or court may establish a minimum base fee, fine, forfeiture, penalty, or assessment amount for inclusion in the program. This section applies to costs incurred by a court or a county on or after June 30, 1997, and prior to the implementation of a time payments agreement, and shall supersede any prior law to the contrary. This section does not apply to a defendant who is paying fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, or assessments through time payments, unless he or she is delinquent in making payments according to the agreed-upon payment schedule. For purposes of this section, a comprehensive collection program is a separate and distinct revenue collection activity and shall include at least 10 of the following components:
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, a county or court that operates a comprehensive collection program may deduct the costs of operating that program, excluding capital expenditures, from any revenues collected under that program. The costs shall be deducted before any distribution of revenues to other governmental entities required by any other law. A county or court operating a comprehensive collection program may establish a minimum base fee, fine, forfeiture, penalty, or assessment amount for inclusion in the program.
(a) Monthly bill or account statements to all debtors.
(b) Telephone contact with delinquent debtors to apprise them of their failure to meet payment obligations.
(c) Issuance of warning letters to advise delinquent debtors of an outstanding obligation.
(d) Requests for credit reports to assist in locating delinquent debtors.
(e) Access to Employment Development Department employment and wage information.
(f) The generation of monthly delinquent reports.
(g) Participation in the Franchise Tax Board’s Interagency Intercept Collections Program.
(h) The use of Department of Motor Vehicle information to locate delinquent debtors.
(i) The use of wage and bank account garnishments.
(j) The imposition of liens on real property and proceeds from the sale of real property held by a title company.
(k) The filing of a claim or the filing of objections to the inclusion of outstanding fines and forfeitures in bankruptcy proceedings.
(l) Coordination with the probation department to locate debtors who may be on formal or informal probation.
(m) The initiation of driver’s license suspension actions where appropriate.
(n) The capability to accept credit card payments.
(o) Participation in the Franchise Tax Board’s Court-Ordered Debt Collections Program.
(p) Contracting with one or more private debt collectors.
(q) The use of local, regional, state, or national skip tracing or locator resources or services to locate delinquent debtors.
(r) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2012, and, as of January 1, 2013, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2013, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
(b) Once debt becomes delinquent, it continues to be delinquent and may be subject to collection by a comprehensive collection program. Debt is delinquent and subject to collection by a comprehensive collection program if any of the following conditions is met:
(1) A defendant does not post bail or appear on or before the date on which the defendant promised to appear, or any lawful continuance of that date, if that defendant was eligible to post and forfeit bail.
(2) A defendant does not pay the amount imposed by the court on or before the date ordered by the court, or any lawful continuance of that date.
(3) A defendant has failed to make an installment payment on the date specified by the court.
(c) For the purposes of this section, a “comprehensive collection program” is a separate and distinct revenue collection activity that meets each of the following criteria:
(1) The program identifies and collects amounts arising from delinquent court-ordered debt, whether or not a warrant has been issued against the alleged violator.
(2) The program complies with the requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 1463.010.
(3) The program engages in each of the following activities:
(A) Attempts telephone contact with delinquent debtors for whom the program has a telephone number to inform them of their delinquent status and payment options.
(B) Notifies delinquent debtors for whom the program has an address in writing of their outstanding obligation within 95 days of delinquency.
(C) Generates internal monthly reports to track collections data, such as age of debt and delinquent amounts outstanding.
(D) Uses Department of Motor Vehicles information to locate delinquent debtors.
(E) Accepts payment of delinquent debt by credit card.
(4) The program engages in at least five of the following activities:
(A) Sends delinquent debt to the Franchise Tax Board’s Court-Ordered Debt Collections Program.
(B) Sends delinquent debt to the Franchise Tax Board’s Interagency Intercept Collections Program.
(C) Contracts with one or more private debt collectors to collect delinquent debt.
(D) Sends monthly bills or account statements to all delinquent debtors.
(E) Contracts with local, regional, state, or national skip tracing or locator resources or services to locate delinquent debtors.
(F) Coordinates with the probation department to locate debtors who may be on formal or informal probation.
(G) Uses Employment Development Department employment and wage information to collect delinquent debt.
(H) Establishes wage and bank account garnishments where appropriate.
(I) Places liens on real property owned by delinquent debtors when appropriate.
(J) Uses an automated dialer or automatic call distribution system to manage telephone calls.
(d) A comprehensive collection program shall also administer nondelinquent installment payment plans ordered pursuant to Section 68645.2 of the Government Code, and may recover up to and including thirty-five dollars ($35) per nondelinquent installment plan.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.