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Ordinance No. 3s6~
ORDINANCE AMENDING ARTICLE X TO CHAPTER 3
OF THE BUTTE COUNTY CODE INCREASING THE LAW
LIBRARY FEE PAID BY LITIGANTS IN THE SUPERIOR COURT
The Board of Supervisors of the County of Butte ordains as follows:
Section 1. Findings
The Board of Supervisors hereby makes the following findings:
(a) Business and Professions Code section 6322.1., subdivision (a),
authorizes a County Board of Supervisors, after January 1, 1995,
to increase the fees collected as costs for the Law Library by the
Superior Court Clerk pursuant to Business and Professions Code
sections 6321 and 6322, to an amount over twenty dollars
020.00) whenever it shall determine that the increase is
necessary to defray the expenses of the Law Library.
(b) Business and Professions Code section 6322.1, subdivision (a),
also provides that any increase in the fees collected as -costs for
the Law Library to an amount over twenty dollars 020.00) shall in
no case be greater than three dollars ($3.00) in .any year if the
Board of Supervisors excludes the library fee from the definition
of "total filing fee," nor shall the increase be more than five dollars
05.00) in any year if the library fee is included in the definition of
"total filing fee," under sections 26820.6 and 72055 of the
Government Code.
(c) In October 1996, this Board adopted Butte County Ordinance No.
3290 which created a three-dollar 03.00) Law Library Fee
pursuant to the enabling sections that stood and stand behind
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1 that and this Ordinance. In the body of Ordinance No. 3290 this
2 Board made a finding that the fee increase requested was
3 necessary to defray the expenses of the Law Library that year.
4 Also included in the body of Ordinance No. 3290 was a statement
5 excluding the three-dollar ($3.00} Law Library Fee from the
6 definition of the "total filing fee" as defined by Government Code
7 sections 26820.6 and 72055.
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(d) In October1996, pursuant to these sections, this Board ordained
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to raise the fee collected as costs for the Law Library from twenty
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dollars ($20.00) to twenty-three dollars ($23.00), as many
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California counties did in that year to defray the expenses of the
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county law library.
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14 {e} Thereafter, in December 2000, this Board again ordained to raise
15 the fee collected as costs for the Law Library from twenty-three
16 dollars ($23.00) to twenty-six dollars {$26.00) by increasing the
1 ~ Law Library Fee that we established in 1996 from three dollars
18 (3.00} to six dollars (6.00). This change became effective in
19 January 2001. In Ordinance No. 3665, we declared that the
20 second fee ordinance requested by the Butte County Board of Law
21 Library Trustees was necessary to defray the expenses of the Law
22 Library. The Boards of Supervisors of nine (9} other California
23 counties, facing their local situations, also took similar action.
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25 (f) Ordinance No. 3665, adopted December 2000, included a finding
2b which excluded the six-dollar (6.00} Law Library Fee from the
definition of the "total filing fee" as "total filing fee" is defined in
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Government Code sections 26820.6 and 72055. Business and
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Professions Code section 6322.1, subdivision (a) provided the
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1 requisite statutory authority for this action.
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3 {g) Sutte County Public Law Library's holdings consist of 23,100
4 items comprising a number of between 700 and 725 titles as of
5 the adoption date of this Ordinance, all of which are organized,
~ classified, and made available for public retrieval using the
~ Library's four thousand card on-site Card Catalog and ancillary
8 flyers. Ready use of the Card Catalog is facilitated by spiral
bound subject heading lists listing 864 alphanumerical entries
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for quick reference. The on-site Card Catalog is in the process
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of being converted to an Internet-based catalog of the Law
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Library's holdings.
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1~ {h) Butte County Public Law Library provides reference assistance
14 and legal and procedural information about the law and the
15 courts to all State residents and is open to the public during all
15 days that the Courts are 'in session, from 8:OOa.m. forward to
17 closing. It is staffed by an attorney and has played an
18 important role in the delivery of legal information to the general
19 public for decades.
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21 (i) Maintenance of a physical plant for a county law library in
22 California is a county responsibility. Business and Professions
23 Code section 6361 places the responsibility for quartering the
24 county law library upon the Board of Supervisors of the county.
25 Pursuant to its provisions, we ordained the construction of the
26 original wing of the Butte County Courthouse to accommodate
the requirements of a public county law library, with the library
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location fixed therein. The architectural plans upon which the
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original wing was built are referred to in the Library Trustees'
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1 Minutes of January 4, February 8, April 4, and May 18, 1972.
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~ [j) Butte County Public Law Library is located in the Butte County
4 Courthouse on Court Street in Oroville. The Courthouse in
5 which the Law Library is housed has been a County facility
6 since its construction.
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(k) Pursuant to the Trial Court Facilities Act of 2002, Stats. 2002,
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ch. 1082, West's California Session Laws, p. 5376, it is expected
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that control of the facility in which the Law Library is quartered
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may pass from the County to the State.
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(1)
To continue to meet its obligations to the public and to prepare
13 for possible facility changes, the Butte County Board of Law
14 Library Trustees adopted a resolution in December of 2002
15 requesting that the Law Library Fee be increased by three more
16 dollars. The resolution requested that the Board raise the fee
17 collected as costs for the Law Library from twenty-six dollars
18 ($26.00) to twenty-nine dollars($29.00) through an amendment
14 to Butte County code section 3-90 that would raise the Law
20 Library Fee to nine dollars 09.00), effective January 1, 2004.
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22 (m) The fee increase adopted by this Ordinance is necessary to
23 defray the expenses of the Law Library and does not exceed the
24 estimated reasonable cost of the services for which the fee is
25 charged.
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(n) This ordinance is enacted pursuant to Business and Professions
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Code section 6322.1, Government Code section 660].8, Article I,
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Section 1 of the Butte County Charter, and Article XI, Section 7
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1 of the California Constitution.
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3 Section 2. Article X to Chapter 3 of the Butte County Code is
~ amended to read as follows:
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6 "Article X. LAW LIBRARY FEE
,~ Section 3-90. Payment of fee required.
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A nine dollar ($9.00) Law Library fee is hereby established, effective
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January 1, 2004, to defray expenses of the Butte Gounty Public Law
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Library. The collection of this additional fee shall be as follows:
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1? (a). CIVIL ACTION FILING FEES
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14 (1.) There shall be paid, in addition to the fee fixed by Government
15 Code section 26820.4 and collected by the Superior Court .Clerk for filing
16 the first paper in a civil action or special proceeding in the Superior Court,
1 ~ except an adoption proceeding, a nine dollar ($9.00} Law Library fee
18 pursuant to Business and Professions Cade section 6322. I, subdivision {a).
19 This nine dollar ($9.00) fee shall be allocated entirely to the Law Library.
20 {2.) The fee collected pursuant to Section 3-90(a){1) above applies to
21 the initial complaint, petition, or application and any papers transmitted
22 from another court on the transfer of a civil action or proceeding but does
23 not include documents filed pursuant to section 491.150, 704.750 or
2~ 708.160 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
~$ (3.) There shall be paid, in addition to the fee fixed by Government
Code section 26826 and collected by ~fhe Superior Court Clerk for filing the
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first paper in an action on behalf of any defendant, intervenor, respondent,
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or adverse party, whether separately or jointly, except for the purpose of
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mal~ir~g disclair*mer, a nine dollar (w9.00) Law Library fee pursuant to
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Business and Professions Code section 6322.1, subdivision {a). This nine
dollar ($9.00) fee shall be allocated entirely to the Law Library.
(b). PROBATE FEES
(~..) There shall be paid, in addition to the fee fixed by Government
Code section 26827 and collected by the Superior Court Clerk for filing the
first or subsequent petition for letters of administration, apetition for
letters testamentary, a first account of a testamentary trustee, a petition
for letters of guardianship, a petition for letters of conservatorship, a
petition for compromise of minor's claim, or a petition to contest any will or
codicil, a nine dollar ($9.00) Law Library fee pursuant to Business and
Professions Code section 6322.1, subdivision {a). This nine dollar {9.00)
fee shall be allocated entirely to the Law Library.
{c). LIMITED CIVIL CASE FILING FEES
(l.) There shall be paid, in addition to the fee fixed by Government
Code section 72055 and collected by the Superior Court Clerk for filing the
first paper in a civil action or proceeding captioned as a "limited civil case,"
a nine dollar ($9.00) Law Library fee pursuant to Business and Professions
Code section 6322.1, subdivision {a). This nine dollar (9.00) fee shall be
allocated entirely to the Law Library.
(2.) The fee collected pursuant to Section 3-90(C)(1) above applies to
the initial complaint, petition, or application and any papers transmitted
from another court on the transfer of a civil action but does not include
documents filed pursuant to section 491.150, 704.750 or 708.160 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.
(3.) There shall be paid, in addition to the fee fixed by Government
Code section 72056 and collected by the Superior Court Clerk for filing the
first paper in a civil action or proceeding on behalf of any party other than
plaintiff, a nine dollar {9.00) Law Library fee pursuant to Business and
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1 Professions Code section 6322.1, subdivision {a). This nine dollar {$9.00)
2 fee shall be allocated entirely to the Law Library.
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4 Section 3. Exclusion of the Law Library Fee From Definition of
~ "Total Filin Fee."
6 {1.) Pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 6322.1,
7 subdivision (a), the Board of Supervisors ordained in 1996 and again in
8 2000 to establish a Law Library fee of, first, three dollars 03.00), then, six
dollars ($6.00) to counter rising publications costs and to slow the progress
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of subscriptions cuts. The initial three-dollar 03.00) fee and the current
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six-dollar ($6.00) fee were declared to be, have always been and continue
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to be fees that are in addition to the fees fixed by Government Code
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sections 26820.4, 26826, 26827, 72055, and 72056. These fees were
13 excluded from the definition of the "total filing fee" as defined by
14 Government Code sections 26820.6 and 72055.
15 (2.) Pursuant to Business and Professions Code section 6322.1,
16 subdivision (a), there is now excluded a total of nine dollars ($9.00) from
17 the definition of the "total filing fee" as defined by Government Code
18 sections 26820.6 and 72055. The nine-dollar ($9.00) fee in Section 2
19 above is in addition to the fees fixed by Government code sections 25820.4,
20 26826, 26827, 72055 and 72056.
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22 Section 4. Severability.
23 if any provision of this Ordinance or the application thereof to any
24 person or circumstances is for any reason held to be invalid by a court of
2~ competent jurisdiction, such part shall be deemed severable, and the
26 invalidity thereof shall not effect the remaining provisions or other
applications of the Ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid
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provision or application thereof.
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Section 5. Ordinance effective Date and Publication.
This Ordinance shall take effect January 2, 2004. fihe Clerk of the
Board of Supervisors is authorized and directed to publish this ordinance
before the expiration of fifteen (15) days after its passage. This Ordinance
shall be published once, with the names of the members of the Board of
Supervisors voting for and against it, in the Enterprise-Record , a
newspaper of general circulation published in the County of Butte, State of
California..
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the Board of Supervisors of the County of
Butte, State of California, on the 16th day of December, 2003, by the
following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Dolan, Hoax, ,Tosiassen, Yamaguchi and Chair Beeler
NOES: No~.e
ASSENT: None
NOT VOTING: None
~ ATTEST:
PAUL MCINTOSH
Chief Administrative Officer and
Clerk of the Board of Supervisors
r
I~ T
R.J. Beeler, Chair of the
Butte County Board of Supervisors
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