Civil process and notices: ministerial officers.

(1) Existing law provides for the service of process and notices, including a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings, by the sheriff or other ministerial officer. Certain documents and records relating to the service of process and notices, including any direction or authority by a party or his or her attorney to a sheriff in respect to the execution or return of process and instructions from a judgment creditor to a levying officer, are required to be in writing, as specified. This bill would generally authorize a levying officer, as defined, to electronically transmit and receive specified documents and records relating to enforcement of judgments. The bill would require specified information to be included with the electronic transmission, and would require a levying officer to exclude or redact certain identifiers from any document or record made available to the public. The bill would provide additional safeguards and procedures relating to the electronic transmission of documents and records, and make other conforming changes. (2) Existing law requires a writ of execution, possession, or sale, and written instructions from a judgment creditor to a levying officer relating to the enforcement of a judgment, to include specified information. This bill would require those process documents to specify certain additional information, including the type of legal entity of the judgment debtor, if other than a natural person. The bill also would require a writ of execution, possession, or sale to include a statement indicating whether the case is limited or unlimited. (3) Existing law specifies procedures for issuance and return of postjudgment writs of execution. Among other things, the levying officer is required to return the writ to the court, together with a report of his or her actions and an accounting of amounts collected and costs incurred, within specified time periods. This bill would authorize the levying officer to retain the original writ or an electronic copy and to electronically file with the court a return of his or her actions, and an accounting of amounts collected and costs incurred, in lieu of returning the paper version of an original writ of execution. The return of the levying officer's actions and the accounting would be required to be filed with the court, and the writ would expire, within those specified time periods. The bill would make other conforming changes. (4) Existing law requires an earnings withholding order to be served by personal delivery or by registered or certified mail. This bill, instead, would require an earnings withholding order to be served by personal delivery or by first-class mail, as specified. (5) The Documentary Transfer Tax Act authorizes the board of supervisors of a county or city and county to impose a tax upon specified instruments that transfer specified interests in real property. Existing law requires the levying officer conducting the sale of real property that has been levied upon, when the purchaser pays the amount due, to execute and deliver a deed of sale to the purchaser and record a duplicate of the deed of sale in the office of the county recorder. This bill would clarify that the purchaser of levied upon real property is responsible for paying the documentary transfer tax. (6) Existing law establishes procedures, as specified, as an alternative to issuing a warrant for contempt, pursuant to which a court may issue an arrest warrant for a witness who failed to appear pursuant to a subpoena or a person who failed to appear pursuant to a court order. Existing law specifies the contents of the arrest warrant, including the signature of the magistrate issuing the warrant. This bill, instead, would require the arrest warrant to include the signature or name of the judicial officer issuing the warrant. (7) By increasing the duties of local ministerial officers relating to the service of process and notice, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions.