Report 2007-109 Recommendation 5 Responses

Report 2007-109: DNA Identification Fund: Improvements Are Needed in Reporting Fund Revenues and Assessing and Distributing DNA Penalties, but Counties and Courts We Reviewed Have Properly Collected Penalties and Transferred Revenues to the State (Release Date: November 2007)

Recommendation #5 To: Administrative Office of the Courts

To ensure that the distribution of payments for all fines, fees, and penalty assessments charged to offenders comply with all applicable laws and regulations, the AOC should do the following: Work with the Orange court to estimate the total dollar effect of the rounding errors in calculating the penalty assessment distribution to determine whether it will have a significant financial impact on the State. If the AOC determines that the impact will be significant, it should ensure that the Orange court makes the necessary modifications to the distributions calculated by its case management system. Further, as it proceeds with developing the statewide case management system, the AOC should ensure that the system correctly distributes payments to the appropriate funds in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.

1-Year Agency Response

Although the AOC agreed that the 55 percent error rate we found in our sample was too high, it noted that the impact for each case was minimal, ranging from a 9-cent underpayment to a 1-cent overpayment. Nonetheless, the AOC stated that the Superior Court of Orange County implemented a change to its case management system on July 1, 2008, to address the rounding errors made by the system when it calculates the penalty assessment distribution.

The AOC also stated that the court reviewed approximately 750 funds to determine what the appropriate fund distribution should be and make any corrections needed. The distribution priority review was completed on April 8, 2008. (See 2009-406 p. 264)

California State Auditor's Assessment of 1-Year Status: Fully Implemented

All Recommendations in 2007-109

Agency responses received after June 2013 are posted verbatim.