The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) released a report looking
at California’s criminal fines and fees system. This report was
requested by the State Senate, specifically by the pro tem,
Senator Kevin de León. The report:
Improving California’s Criminal Fine and Fee System looks at
the complexities of the current system and makes recommendations
on how the system can be improved.
Key issues with the current fine and fee system are:
Difficult for the Legislature to control the use of fines and
fees;
Revenue distributions that are generally not based on need;
Difficulties in distributing the revenue accurately;
A lack of complete and accurate data.
The LAO’s recommendations in the report include increasing
legislative control over the use of criminal fine and fee revenue
to ensure that its uses are in line with legislative priorities
by (1) requiring that most criminal fines and fees revenue be
deposited in the state General Fund, (2) consolidating most fines
and fees into a single, statewide charge, (3) evaluating the
existing programs supported by fine and fee revenues, and (4)
mitigating the impacts of potential changes to the fine and fee
system on local governments. These recommendations are
opportunities for the Legislature to make ongoing improvements to
the current system.
