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Penalty Assessment Funds
California’s Traffic Penalties and Fees Provide Inconsistent Funding for State and County Programs and Have a Significant Financial Impact on Drivers

Report Number: 2017-126

Appendix

Revenue, Expenditures, and Year-End Fund Balances of State and County Funds That Receive Penalty and Fee Revenue


The Audit Committee requested that the State Auditor identify the total revenue, expenditures, and fiscal year‑end fund balances for each of the state funds that received revenue from penalties and fees for traffic violations in fiscal years 2014–15 through 2016–17. We present this information in Table A.1. Additionally, the Audit Committee requested that for a selection of four counties, we identify the total revenue, total and types of expenditures, and fiscal year‑end fund balances for each of the local funds that received revenue from traffic violation penalties and fees in fiscal years 2014–15 through 2016–17. As described in the Introduction, we selected the counties of Los Angeles, Merced, Sacramento, and San Mateo for our analysis. We present the counties’ information in Table A.2.

Table A.1
Revenue, Expenditures, and Year-End Fund Balances for State Funds that Receive Penalty Revenue

Fiscal Year Fund Revenue Expenditures Penalty Revenue % Revenue Made Up by Penalties Revenue Net of Expenditures Year-End Fund Balance*
2016–17 State Penalty Fund $94,788,274 $94,788,274 $92,475,546 97.6% $0 NA
2015–16 106,113,799 106,113,799 103,337,830 97.4% 0 NA
2014–15 121,378,008 121,378,008 118,147,899 97.3% 0 NA
Subtotals $322,280,081 $322,280,081 $313,961,275 $ 0
2016–17 Fish and Game Preservation Fund $98,447,952 $115,705,568 $400,279 0.4% $(17,257,616) $69,767,000
2015–16 97,125,170 105,776,803 423,636 0.4% (8,651,633) 75,771,000
2014–15 92,658,414 103,585,716 464,779 0.5% (10,927,302) 78,640,000
Subtotals $288,231,536 $325,068,087 $1,288,694 $(36,836,551)
2016–17 Restitution Fund $122,238,723 $74,540,885 $29,172,956 23.9% $47,697,838 $99,702,000
2015–16 72,205,307 127,484,537 33,089,881 45.8% (55,279,230) 49,110,000
2014–15 106,239,777 85,093,672 38,394,040 36.1% 21,146,105 105,556,000
Subtotals $300,683,807 $287,119,094 $100,656,877 $13,564,713
2016–17 Peace Officers’
Training Fund
$31,108,132 $31,216,027 $23,291,619 74.9% $(107,895) $4,991,000
2015–16 37,308,214 44,653,828 25,419,906 68.1% (7,345,614) 16,499,000
2014–15 37,181,804 51,188,166 28,687,154 77.2% (14,006,362) 19,359,000
Subtotals $105,598,150 $127,058,021 $77,398,679 $(21,459,871)
2016–17 Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund $23,414,911 $23,342,911 $23,414,911 100.0% $71,999 $1,001,000
2015–16 26,544,429 27,212,032 26,511,157 99.9% (667,602) 457,000
2014–15 30,732,009 30,422,096 30,732,009 100.0% 309,913 1,175,000
Subtotals $80,691,349 $80,977,039 $80,658,077 $(285,690)
2016–17 Corrections Training Fund $17,347,886 $24,256,465 $7,490,038 43.2% $(6,908,579) $3,140,000
2015–16 18,078,591 12,239,960 8,274,400 45.8% 5,838,630 7,873,000
2014–15 19,223,091 21,513,895 9,422,896 49.0% (2,290,805) 4,030,000
Subtotals $54,649,568 $58,010,320 $25,187,334 $(3,360,754)
2016–17 Local Public Prosecutors
and Public Defenders
Training Fund
$717,252 $842,409 $710,659 99.1% $(125,157) $1,218,000
2015–16 749,215 856,862 745,362 99.5% (107,647) 1,212,000
2014–15 830,805 858,473 828,124 99.7% (27,668) 1,239,000
Subtotals $2,297,272 $2,557,744 $2,284,145 $(260,472)
2016–17 Victim-Witness
Assistance Fund
$12,016,388 $13,742,333 $7,871,777 65.5% $(1,725,945) $4,829,000
2015–16 13,080,264 17,983,351 8,912,693 68.1% (4,903,087) 6,837,000
2014–15 24,717,495 17,674,540 10,331,685 41.8% 7,042,955 11,196,000
Subtotals $49,814,147 $49,400,224 $27,116,155 $413,923
2016–17 Traumatic Brain
Injury Fund
$1,105,093 $896,734 $601,327 54.4% $208,359 $405,000
2015–16 1,308,606 919,412 680,843 52.0% 389,194 378,000
2014–15 789,242 837,983 789,242 100.0% (48,741) 427,000
Subtotals $3,202,941 $2,654,129 $2,071,412 $548,812
2016–17 DNA Identification Fund $54,684,105 $54,831,022 $54,615,038 99.9% $(146,917) $6,158,000
2015–16 59,796,761 66,763,329 59,709,445 99.9% (6,966,568) 10,353,000
2014–15 68,232,538 70,949,857 68,150,476 99.9% (2,717,319) 23,375,000
Subtotals $182,713,404 $192,544,208 $182,474,959 $(9,830,804)
2016–17 EMAT Act Fund $6,975,872 $8,116,230 $6,934,162 99.4% $(1,140,358) $2,052,000
2015–16 7,690,958 11,672,088 7,661,377 99.6% (3,981,130) 3,402,000
2014–15 8,595,056 16,860,911 8,543,270 99.4% (8,265,855) 261,000
Subtotals $23,261,886 $36,649,229 $23,138,809 $(13,387,343)
2016–17 State Court Facilities Construction Fund $97,311,512 $111,724,596 $53,484,687 55.0% $(14,413,084) $411,008,000
2015–16 378,985,799 137,737,539 61,410,298 16.2% 241,248,260 430,281,000
2014–15 240,624,674 185,692,017 71,487,122 29.7% 54,932,657 461,540,000
Subtotals $716,921,985 $435,154,152 $186,382,107 $281,767,833
2016–17 Immediate and Critical Needs Account $236,922,203 $252,114,327 $123,335,902 52.1% $(15,192,124) $269,008,000
2015–16 234,339,883 169,070,503 139,990,985 59.7% 65,269,380 304,267,000
2014–15 261,095,304 190,297,184 164,178,464 62.9% 70,798,120 254,104,000
Subtotals $732,357,390 $611,482,014 $427,505,351 $120,875,376
2016–17 Trial Court Trust Fund $1,367,510,247 $1,331,234,492 $109,373,333 8.0% $36,275,755 $173,477,000
2015–16 1,352,227,100 1,309,250,640 123,460,765 9.1% 42,976,460 78,338,000
2014–15 1,465,995,838 1,464,160,459 143,296,117 9.8% 1,835,379 75,512,000
Subtotals $4,185,733,185 $4,104,645,591 $376,130,215 $81,087,594
2016–17 State General Fund $122,605,426,496 $126,858,946,528 37,260,126 0.03% $(4,253,520,032) $3,750,297,000
2015–16 120,413,915,840 123,585,483,191 41,652,214 0.03% (3,171,567,351) 3,833,807,000
2014–15 116,388,676,316 115,847,671,224 46,745,059 0.04% 541,005,092 4,790,986,000
Subtotals $359,408,018,652 $366,292,100,943 $125,657,399 $(6,884,082,291)
2016–17 Total Penalty Revenue 477,956,814
Source: California State Auditor’s analysis of data from the State Controller’s fiscal system.

Note: The data for penalty and fee revenue that the State collects are an aggregate of all criminal penalties and fees, including those added to traffic and nontraffic violations.

NA = All revenue initially collected in the State Penalty Fund was then transferred to other funds.

* Year-end fund balance includes transactions recognized in the fiscal year when they occurred, regardless of when cash was received or disbursed.

Revenue deposited in the Driver Training Penalty Assessment Fund was transferred to the indicated funds pursuant to Control Section 24.10 (b) of the annual Budget Act.

The fiscal year 2016–17 total penalty revenue amount does not include the State Penalty Fund to avoid double counting as it is a pass-through fund.

Green cell = Increased from year to year.

Yellow cell = Fluctuated from year to year.

Red cell = Decreased from year to year.

Table A.2
Revenues, Expenditures, and Fund Balances for County Funds That Receive Penalty Revenue

Fical
Year
Fund Revenue Expenditures Revenue Net of Expenditures Year-End Fund Balance
Sacramento County    
2016–17 Criminal Justice Facilities Construction Fund* $1,464,290 $1,440,000 $24,290 $240,154
2015–16 1,672,978 1,740,000 (67,022) 215,864
2014–15 1,752,245 1,800,000 (47,755) 282,886
2016–17 Courthouse Construction Fund* 1,245,004 1,260,000 (14,996) 202,415
2015–16 1,417,680 1,300,000 117,680 217,412
2014–15 1,473,332 1,480,000 (6,668) 99,731
2016–17 DNA Identification Fund 365,998 365,998 0 0
2015–16 428,484 428,484 0 0
2014–15 454,312 454,312 0 0
2016–17 Maddy EMS Fund 1,350,909 1,350,909 0 0
2015–16 1,533,284 1,533,284 0 0
2014–15 1,610,303 1,610,303 0 0
2016–17 Automated Fingerprint Identification Fund 220,214 157,298 62,916 1,992,103
2015–16 263,906 157,357 106,549 1,929,187
2014–15 326,143 114,790 211,353 1,822,638
Merced County  
2016–17 Automated Fingerprint Identification Fund $75,092 $336,414 $(261,322) $69,906
2015–16 75,002 0 75,002 331,228
2014–15 73,216 61,118 12,099 256,226
2016–17 Courthouse Construction Fund 342,611 340,452 2,159 52,971
2015–16 342,228 361,917 (19,689) 50,812
2014–15 339,790 340,468 (678) 70,501
2016–17 DNA Identification Fund 120,691 10,187 110,505 1,019,682
2015–16 115,316 18,927 96,390 909,177
2014–15 107,377 851 106,526 812,788
2016–17 Maddy EMS Fund 709,620 850,946 (141,326) 188,618
2015–16 730,193 743,060 (12,867) 329,944
2014–15 715,682 643,797 71,885 342,811
2016–17 Criminal Justice Facilities Construction Fund 345,307 0 345,307 437,737
2015–16 346,774 550,000 (203,226) 92,430
2014–15 345,253 550,000 (204,747) 295,656
San Mateo County    
2016–17 Courthouse Construction Fund $974,165 $1,222,980 $(248,815) $172,725
2015–16 979,591 1,376,103 (396,512) 421,541
2014–15 1,112,077 1,135,270 (23,193) 818,053
2016–17 Criminal Justice Facilities Construction Fund 940,146 1,100,000 (159,854) 1,504,465
2015–16 993,971 1,100,000 (106,029) 1,664,319
2014–15 1,118,987 1,100,000 18,987 1,770,348
2016–17 DNA Identification Fund 227,172 249,909 (22,737) 1,414,456
2015–16 250,937 379,634 (128,698) 1,437,193
2014–15 297,522 172,624 124,898 1,565,890
2016–17 Maddy EMS Fund* 1,702,450 1,805,861 (103,412) 2,302,481
2015–16 2,077,111 2,483,392 (406,281) 2,405,892
2014–15 2,342,824 2,545,308 (202,484) 2,812,173
2016–17 Automated Fingerprint Identification Fund* 948,661 951,249 (2,589) 214,313
2015–16 932,121 982,909 (50,788) 216,902
2014–15 965,930 1,266,709 (300,779) 267,690
Los Angeles County    
2016–17 Criminal Justice Facilities Construction Fund* $13,965,792 $15,064,004 ($1,098,212) $62,965,138
2015–16 15,238,925 6,961,071 8,277,854 64,063,350
2014–15 18,862,207 9,635,946 9,226,261 55,785,496
2016–17 Courthouse Construction Fund* 11,987,484 14,831,327 (2,843,843) 19,497,391
2015–16 13,256,053 20,803,070 (7,547,017) 22,341,235
2014–15 15,231,031 25,278,014 (10,046,983) 29,888,252
2016–17 DNA Identification Fund* 2,313,134 911,470 1,401,664 1,610,871
2015–16 2,751,495 4,876,603 (2,125,109) 209,208
2014–15 3,347,414 3,254,078 93,336 2,334,316
2016–17 Maddy EMS Fund* 16,245,138 16,409,480 (164,342) 1,245,518
2015–16 18,498,885 18,829,244 (330,359) 1,409,860
2014–15 22,958,580 23,111,372 (152,792) 1,740,219
2016–17 Health Services-Physicians Services Fund* 7,829,005 7,829,737 (732) 18,318
2015–16 8,907,712 8,888,693 19,020 19,050
2014–15 11,025,496 11,038,642 (13,146) 30
2016–17 Health Services-Hospital Services Fund* 4,518,586 9,489,552 (4,970,966) 5,301,575
2015–16 6,038,225 321,525 5,716,700 10,272,540
2014–15 7,956,885 5,928,292 2,028,593 4,555,841
2016–17 Automated Fingerprint Identification Fund* 10,656,298 8,516,082 2,140,216 79,470,913
2015–16 10,288,506 6,668,080 3,620,426 77,330,696
2014–15 10,532,056 9,056,483 1,475,573 73,710,270
Sources: California State Auditor’s analysis of data from county records.

Note: County funds may have other revenue in addition to penalties. The data for penalty and fee revenue that the counties collect are an aggregate of all criminal penalties and fees, including those added to traffic and nontraffic violations.

* Fund includes transactions recognized in the fiscal year when they occurred, regardless of when cash was received or disbursed.

The Sacramento County DNA Identification Fund expenditures are split between the Sheriff’s Department and the District Attorney’s Office to reimburse a portion of their DNA-related expenditures.

Green cell= Increased from year to year.

Yellow cell= Fluctuated from year to year.

Red cell= Decreased from year to year.

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