California Assembly Bill ABX377 Latest Draft

 BILL NUMBER: ABX3 77INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Torlakson JULY 16, 2009 An act to amend Section 1520.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, relating to unclaimed property. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 77, as introduced, Torlakson. Unclaimed property: gift certificates: poison control center funding. Existing law, the Unclaimed Property Law, governs the disposition of unclaimed property, including the escheat of certain property to the state. Those provisions require a person holding funds or other property escheated to the state to report to the Controller certain information regarding the property and the owner. Existing law regulates the sale of gift certificates, as defined, and excludes unredeemed gift certificates from the unclaimed property law. This bill would, instead, include gift certificates within the unclaimed property law and would require the full value of a gift certificate issued commencing July 1, 2006, or portion thereof that has not been redeemed within 3 years after issuance of the gift certificate to escheat to the state and be forwarded to the Controller. The bill would provide that it does not alter the rights and responsibilities of the seller and buyer under the terms of the gift certificate and would authorize a seller to claim the value of a subsequently redeemed gift certificate as a credit against the seller's next payment to the Controller. Pursuant to the Emergency Medical Services System and Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act (EMS Act), the Emergency Medical Services Authority (the authority) is established within the California Health and Human Services Agency to administer the emergency medical services system to coordinate and integrate effective and efficient emergency medical services throughout the 58 counties of the state. The EMS Act requires the authority to establish minimum standards for poison control centers, to designate poison control centers, and to establish their geographical service areas. The EMS Act authorizes a county to establish an emergency medical services fund for reimbursement of certain EMS-related costs, including, but not limited to, the funding of poison control centers. This bill would establish the Escheated Gift Certificate/Poison Control Center Funding Account within the State Treasury and would require deposit of the funds collected pursuant to this bill into the account for the purposes of funding poison control centers, upon appropriation by the Legislature, and would require the transfer of excess funds to the General Fund. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. The Governor issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 19, 2008. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation issued on December 19, 2008, pursuant to the California Constitution. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 1520.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure is amended to read: 1520.5.  (a)     Notwithstanding any law,  Section 1520  does not apply   applies  to gift certificates subject to Title 1.4A (commencing with Section 1749.45) of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code.  However,  Section 1520 applies to any gift certificate  that has an expiration date and  that is given in exchange for money or any other thing of value  , without regard to whether or not the gift certificate has an expiration date  .  (b) Any gift certificate, as described in subdivision (a), that is not redeemed within three years after the date of issuance shall escheat to the state. The full value of the gift certificate, or the unredeemed portion of the gift certificate, shall be forwarded to the Controller in accordance with this chapter within 30 days after the end of the three-year period.   (c) In the case of a gift certificate that has no expiration date, or that has a redemption period that exceeds the three-year escheat period set forth in subdivision (b), this section does not alter the rights of the purchaser to redeem an escheated gift certificate or the duty of the seller to honor an escheated gift certificate according to the terms of the gift certificate. If the purchaser redeems the certificate after the three-year escheat period set forth in subdivision (b), the seller may claim the value of the gift certificate as a credit against the seller's next payment to the Controller pursuant to this section.   (d) Funds collected by the Controller pursuant to this section shall be deposited into the Escheated Gift Certificate/Poison Control Center Funding Account that is hereby established within the State Treasury for use, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of funding poison control centers. Funds in the account that are in excess of the funds needed for funding poison control centers shall be transferred to the General Fund.   (e) The amendments to this section adding this subdivision shall have retroactive effect and shall apply to gift certificates issued commencing July 1, 2006.  SEC. 2. This act addresses the fiscal emergency declared by the Governor by proclamation on December 19, 2008, pursuant to subdivision (f) of Section 10 of Article IV of the California Constitution.