The legislative year starts at the beginning of September. From September to December, each legislator decides what they want to introduce for the next year. September is really the month you want to try to get into your legislator’s faces about the bills you would like to see introduced so that they have time to consider it, draft the bill, refine it, etc.
Bills are introduced in January. Between January and August, the bills are revised, voted on, revised some more, voted on again… The final vote is usually at the end of August, so if it didn’t pass by August, its done for the year. If it is a bill they feel strongly about, your legislator may choose to re-introduce it the next year.
Once bills are passed, they have to go to the governor to be signed into law. if he doesn’t like the bill he can simply veto it — and it’s dead. The last day for the governor to sign bills is usually the end of September. Here is the calendar.
This year, I am primarily focusing on Closing the Loophole that Allows Taxation Agencies to Implement Wage Garnishment/Levys/Liens without a Judge’s Approval. I believe that if enough people contact the legislators, they will have no choice but to bow to public pressure. Remember, they are public officials, they want to be re-elected, and they will have a hard time explaining why they are not protecting their constituents from government fraud.
I am asking every Californian to send a letter via email or fax to the following people:
- Your own State Senator and Assemblyman
- Every person on the State Senate Governance and Finance Committee (these are the people with the power to change tax law)
- Every person on the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee (these are the people who have the power to change tax law)
- Heads of each of the Houses: Toni Atkins in Senate and Anthony Rendon in Assembly.
- And also send it to the Franchise Tax Board’s Taxpayer Advocate at: FTBAdvocate@ftb.ca.gov.
The contents of the letter can be simple:
I am writing to request that you enact a legislative change in the 2022 legislative cycle which will close a loophole that allows for fraud. In California, a creditor is required to prove to a judge that a debt is owed and get the judge’s authorization to implement a wage garnishment, bank levy or lien. The exception is the taxation agencies. I am requesting that this loophole be closed, and that the taxation agencies be required to prove to an independent judge that a debt is actually owed prior to implementation of collection tools.
The system was set up to require a judge’s authorization to prevent fraud. My understanding is that the taxation agencies are fraudulently imposing these collection tools as a result of this loophole. I am begging you to protect the people of California from fraud by closing this loophole. Please, do the right thing for your constituents.
Regards,
NAME
If you have had a personal experience with a fraudulently imposed collection tool, please share your experience to make your letter more compelling. Feel free to contact me if you would like help with your own letter or contacting the officials. As a sample, here is the letter that I wrote:
Dear (Legislator name):
I am writing to request that you enact a legislative change in the 2022 legislative cycle by closing a loophole that allows for fraud.
In California, a creditor is required to prove to a judge that a debt is owed and get the judge’s authorization to implement a wage garnishment, bank levy or lien. The exception is the taxation agencies. I am requesting that this loophole be closed, and that the taxation agencies be required to prove to an independent judge that a debt is actually owed prior to implementation of collection tools.
I have a civil case pending against FTB. Here is an excerpt from a document that I submitted to the court last week:
“Many of these irregularities are so egregious that I believe they qualify as fraudulent. For example, on 01-23-2014, I made a $9,000 estimated tax payment designated for tax year 2011 (this was a repayment of a previous payment that had been “misapplied” and refunded to us). In Exhibit 49, Accounting Irregularities, I documented in questions 10F, 15C, 16C, 16D, 16F, and 23C that this one payment was applied to four different tax years on overlapping dates.
Per the Taxpayer Advocate’s stated policy of withholding estimated tax payments made by married couples until that year’s return is filed, the $9,000 the payment should have been applied to tax year 2011 on 03-06-2014, the day that FTB received our tax year 2011 returns. However, FTB representatives insisted that the $9,000 payment could not be located no matter how many times I sent in the canceled check. As I documented in Exhibit 52, pages 6 – 7, Qs 20 – 25, FTB filed a new wage garnishment against my husband on 06-27-2014 for $3,8511.11. Meanwhile, FTB’s own accounting ledgers that were submitted to this court by FTB state that on 06-27-2014, that single $9,000 paying was simultaneously fully applied to both tax years 2011 and 2013. Per FTB’s own 2011 ledger, this garnishment was filed despite the fact that our 2011 tax year was paid in full and no money was due.
This is only one of the fifteen “lost” payments. All of the “lost” payments have accounting irregularities surrounding them, and all of them were difficult and time consuming for me to rectify.”
As an FYI, there was a also second payment made for 2011 for $4,393 that was missing, as well, at the time the garnishment was implemented.
This was the second wage garnishment FTB filed against us for 2011, as another payment for $13,393 made via credit elect had previously vanished. This second garnishment referenced above resulted from trying to correct the egregious accounting irregularities surrounding that “lost” $13,393 payment.
Both times the garnishment was filed, I should have had the right to go before a judge to prove the debt was not owed. Instead, my rights to due process were violated.
I would encourage you to read Exhibit 49, entitled Accounting Irregularities and Exhibit 52, Plaintiff’s Request for Admissions. It is well worth your time to understand how extensive FTB’s accounting fraud is. They can be downloaded from here: https://roa.sdcourt.ca.gov/roa/faces/CaseSearch.xhtml. The case number is year 2020 number 00005100. The Exhibits are attached to item #39, The Declaration. If you’d like to read the rest of the Reply Brief that I quoted from above, it is item number 68.
If FTB had real accountability to a third party, these kind of “mistakes” would quickly cease. If you want to put a stop to the accounting irregularities, being held accountable to a neutral third party is an important first step.
The system was set up to require a judge’s authorization to prevent fraud. Fraud is now happening as a result of this loophole. I am begging you to protect the people of California from fraud by closing this loophole. Please, do the right thing for your constituents.
Regards,
Christine Grab
Psalm 64