SECTIONS 71380-71386 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 71380-71386

71380. The Controller shall establish, supervise, and as necessary
revise a uniform accounting system, including a system of audit, to
the end that all fines, penalties, forfeitures, and fees assessed by
courts, and their collection and appropriate disbursement, shall be
properly and uniformly accounted for. The accounting system shall
apply to superior courts, together with probation offices, central
collection bureaus and any other agencies having a role in this
process.

71381. Such system may provide for bank accounts for each municipal
court, in which money received by such court may be deposited and
disbursed as provided therein, and for such records, reports, and
procedures as the Controller may deem necessary to carry out the
purposes of this article.

71382. Every judge of a superior court, or the clerk of any such
court, who willfully fails to keep accounts pursuant to the system or
to account for the money paid into and disbursed by the court
pursuant to the system established by the Controller pursuant to this
article is guilty of a misdemeanor.

71383. As used in Section 71002, "board of supervisors" means
county or city and county.

71384. The system established pursuant to this article may provide
for the deposit of all money collected by superior courts in the
county treasury, for disbursement from it, and for the audit of such
accounts by the county auditor.

71385. This article shall supersede any conflicting provisions of
law existing on September 22, 1951.

71386. (a) Each superior court shall adopt a written policy,
consistent with rules adopted by, or trial court financial policies
and procedures authorized by, the Judicial Council under subdivision
(a) of Section 77206, governing the acceptance of checks and money
orders in payment of any fees, fines, or bail deposits. The policy
shall permit clerks to accept checks and money orders under
conditions that tend to assure their validity.
(b) A court shall accept a personal check, bank cashier's check,
or money order for payment of any fee or fine, or for a deposit of
bail for any offense that is not declared to be a felony, provided
the check or money order meets the criteria established in
subdivision (a). However, no court shall be required to accept a
check in excess of three hundred dollars ($300) from a defendant in
custody as a deposit of bail for any alleged violation of the Penal
Code.
(c) The acceptance of a check pursuant to this section constitutes
payment of the obligation owed to the payee public agency to the
extent of the amount of the check as of the date of acceptance.
(d) If any check offered in payment pursuant to this section is
returned to the payee without payment, a reasonable charge for the
returned check not to exceed the actual costs incurred may be imposed
to recover the processing and collection costs. This charge may be
added to, and become part of, any underlying obligation other than an
obligation that constitutes a lien on real property, or a different
method of payment for that payment and future payments by that person
may be prescribed. If the costs are incurred by the county, the
charges imposed for a returned check shall be retained by the
treasurer of the county and be deposited in the county general fund.
If the costs are incurred by the court, the charges imposed for a
returned check shall be distributed to the court under Section
68085.1.