More Parking Fees?
SB 1407 Court Facilities: Financing

SB 1407 brought forth by Senate President pro Tempore Don Perata, and signed by the Governor and effective January 1, 2009, authorized the issuance of up to $5 billion in lease revenue bonds for purposes of financing, planning, design, construction, rehabilitation, renovation, replacement, and leasing or acquisition of state trial court facilities. The measure also authorizes a variety of increases to penalties and fees as revenue sources for the bonds. The proceeds from these increases and surcharges would be deposited into a new account within the State Court Facilities Construction Fund (SCFCF), the Immediate and Critical Needs Account (ICNA).

Of particular interest to municipalities that impose parking penalties or otherwise process parking violations, SB 1407 amends subdivision (b) of section 70372 of the Government Code to authorize the removal of an additional $3.00 court construction penalty from each parking violation. The additional $3.00 increases the total penalty amount removed by the state to $4.50. These state penalties are to be taken from the fines and forfeitures prior to any divisions and deposited with the county treasurer on a monthly basis.

For some jurisdictions, the increased state penalty may not significantly impact the budgetary process. Nonetheless, SB 1407 will redirect to the state $3.00 from each individual parking violation issued and collected. Accordingly, some agencies may wish to increase their existing parking penalties to offset the state penalty increase.

Agencies that wish to do so should promptly update their parking penalties and formalize the updates with the relevant court to minimize the negative revenue impact of SB 1407, now that the legislation has taken effect.