BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to indigent defendants; and adding new sections 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:

The legislature is aware that the constitutional requirements of equal protection and due process require that counsel be provided for indigent persons and persons who are indigent and unable to contribute for the first appeal as a matter of right from a judgment and sentence in a criminal case, and no further. There is no constitutional right to the appointment of counsel at public expense to collaterally attack a judgment and sentence in a criminal matter or to seek discretionary review of a lower appellate court decision.

The legislature finds that it is appropriate to extend the right to counsel at state expense to indigent persons and persons who are indigent and able to contribute as those terms are defined in RCW 10.101.010 in the following instances:

(1) For indigent persons filing a direct appeal as a matter of right from a judgment and sentence in a criminal case;

(2) For indigent persons responding to a direct appeal filed as a matter of right or who are responding to a motion for discretionary review or petition for review filed by the state in a criminal case;

(3) For indigent persons under a sentence of death, counsel shall be provided, upon request, for the purpose of filing and prosecution of a motion or petition for collateral attack. However, counsel shall not be provided at public expense for the filing or prosecution of a second or subsequent collateral attack on the same judgment and sentence;

(4) For indigent persons not under a sentence of death to prosecute a collateral attack after the chief judge has determined that the issues raised by the petition are not frivolous in accordance with the procedure contained in RAP 16.11. However, counsel shall not be provided at public expense for the filing or prosecution of a second or subsequent collateral attack on the same judgment and sentence;

(5) For indigent persons who are responding to a collateral attack filed by the state or who are responding to or prosecuting an appeal from a collateral attack that was filed by the state;

(6) For indigent persons to prosecute an appeal after the supreme court or court of appeals has accepted discretionary review of a decision of a court of limited jurisdiction;

(7) For indigent persons to prosecute an appeal after the supreme court has accepted discretionary review of a court of appeals decision.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. 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.