H-4016.1  _______________________________________________

                    SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2337

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      53rd Legislature     1994 Regular Session

By House Committee on Judiciary (originally sponsored by Representative R. Meyers)

Read first time 02/04/94.

Specifying rights and responsibilities of indigent defendants.

    AN ACT Relating to indigent defendants; and adding a new section to chapter 10.73 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 10.73 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The court of appeals, supreme court, and superior courts may require a convicted defendant to pay costs.

    (2) Appellate costs are limited to expenses specifically incurred by the state in prosecuting or defending an appeal or collateral attack from a criminal conviction or sentence.  They cannot include expenditures in connection with the maintenance and operation of government agencies that must be made irrespective of specific violations of the law.  Expenses incurred for producing a verbatim report of proceedings and clerk's papers may be included in costs the court may require a convicted defendant to pay.

    (3) Costs, including recoupment of fees for court appointed counsel, shall be requested in accordance with the procedures contained in Title 14 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure and in Title 9 of the Rules for Appeal of Decisions of Courts of Limited Jurisdiction, as now existing or hereafter amended.  An award of costs becomes part of the trial court judgment and sentence.

    (4) A defendant who has been sentenced to pay costs and who is not in contumacious default in the payment of the costs may at any time petition the court that sentenced the defendant for remission of the payment of costs or of any unpaid portion of them.  If it appears to the satisfaction of the sentencing court that payment of the amount due will impose manifest hardship on the defendant or the defendant's immediate family, the sentencing court may remit all or part of the amount due in costs, or modify the method of payment under RCW 10.01.170.

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