(amended Report) Follow-Up Report to the*

The Board of Supervisors response to F1.1 stated that the Public Defender's Office does not have the personnel to track whether every defendant has paid. Defendants have no incentive to pay, and there are no consequences for non-payment.

There are no established policies or procedures to assess indigent defen dants' ability to reimburse the Public Defender's Office for court appointed counsel. Agency Response: "Disagree. There is a policy and procedure to assess fees. In March of 2010, the Department requested, and the Board of Supervisors approved R-10-95, which permitted San Joaquin County courts to assess a registration fee of up to $50 upon appointment of counsel pursuant to Penal Code section 987.5(a.) The assessed fee was to be paid at the Office of Revenue and Recovery, a division of the Treasurer-Tax Collector. A survey of other counties' procedures and policies also lead our Department to the generation of a flat fee, rather than an hourly rate. In August 2010, a letter was sent to each judge, commissioner and court personnel requesting that the court assess a flat fee of $125 for a misdemeanor case and $175 for a felony case to every defendant who had the ability to pay. This amount included the registration fee pursuant to Penal Code section 987.5(d.) The location for payment was modified after it was determined that all fees paid by defendants for public defender services to the Office of Revenue and Recovery were to be applied to all other balances first to other county agencies before being credited to the department of the Public Defender. Other counties have also experienced this issue. For this reason, the court was notified that the location of payment was changed to the Public Defender's Office. This procedure continued for a period of time until the court gradually stopped informing and assessing defendant's registration fee or the flat fee. It is the intention of this Department to immediately resume the procedure by requesting that the court assess and order the indigent defendants to pay the flat fee of $125 for a misdemeanor and $175 for a felony to each client. The flat fee of $50 would be payable at the Public Defender's Office. The money collected would be tracked by the Public Defender's fiscal staff. The Public Defender's Office does not have the personnel to track whether every defendant has paid. The Department will monitor the ongoing assessment of the fee through the Courts."

There is no communication and oversight among the Public Defender's Office, the County Administrator's office and the Courts for the collection of the fees assessed to the indigent defendants. Agency response: "Disagree. As stated in Response to F1.1 above, the Public Defender's Office established policies and procedures in 2010 to assess and collect fees from indigent defendants, which had also been communicated to the San Joaquin County Superior Court. The Department intends to resume such procedure by September1, 2016. In addition, County Administration reached out to other County departments to determine if a coordinated effort between several departments might make a County Evaluator position more effective. In short, the answer is no, primarily due to the differences in eligibility and the Department' ability to provide services and payment plans based upon existing legislation."

Financial information required to determine indigence in the County is not being verified. Agency Response: "Disagree. Financial information, which includes household income, assets, (real estate, vehicles, money in the bank) and debts, is currently obtained from the majority of defendants in custody, during a Pretrial Services Interview conducted by the Pretrial Services Unit, a branch of the San Joaquin County Probation Department. At that interview, the defendant are told that the information reported will be shared with the court to determine eligibility for pretrial release. A defendant has an incentive to disclose employment and asset information, as those are evidence of stability and support a pretrial release. Penal Code section 987.8 states that the court can order a defendant to appear before a county officer to make inquiry into the ability to pay all or a portion of legal assistance, impose liens, preside over noticed hearing to determine ability to pay and set amounts to be reimbursed and order the sum reasonable and compatible with the defendant's financial ability. Penal Code section 987.8(e) outlines the defendant's rights at a hearing. This process requires additional court appearances. According to the Assistant Treasurer-Tax Collector, a position comparable to a County Evaluation Officer within San Joaquin County is a Senior Collection Clerk, which has a total cost of $82,491 per year and the total cost of a Collections Supervisor is $95,254 per year. It is anticipated that the County would need to hire six Senior Collections Clerks and one Collections Supervisor to staff San Joaquin County three courthouses (Stockton, Lodi and Manteca). In addition, the Office of Revenue and Recovery states that they would charge our Department their hourly rate to track down delinquent payments. It would also be ineffective to vet financial information through these positions. The majority of defendants appointed to the public defender's office have low to no income, outside of public assistance. It is anticipated that the majority (estimated at over 80%) of defendants would be financially unable to pay more than the flat fee that our Department has previously implemented. In addition, the majority of defendants accused of felony charges that remain in custody have lost any job that they may have had. A flat fee has greater likelihood of being recovered, eliminates the need for county officers and ability to pay hearings and is an equitable cost for indigent defendants. At the completion of the defendant's case, the Court will be asked to access the full $125 or $175, minus the $50 registration fee, payable to the Public Defender's Office."