CERTIFICATION OF ENROLLMENT

 

          SECOND ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1378

 

 

                               

 

 

                        52nd Legislature

                      1992 Regular Session

Passed by the House March 12, 1992

  Yeas 96   Nays 0

 

 

 

Speaker of the

       House of Representatives

 

Passed by the Senate March 12, 1992

  Yeas 26   Nays 22

               CERTIFICATE

 

I, Alan Thompson, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is SECOND ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1378 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth.

 

 

 

President of the Senate

                               Chief Clerk

 

 

Approved Place Style On Codes above, and Style Off Codes below.

                                     FILED

          

 

 

Governor of the State of Washington

                        Secretary of State

                       State of Washington


 


                  _______________________________________________

 

                    SECOND ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1378

                  _______________________________________________

 

                             AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE

 

                     Passed Legislature - 1992 Regular Session

 

State of Washington              52nd Legislature             1991 Regular Session

 

By House Committee on Appropriations (originally sponsored by Representatives Appelwick, Miller, Belcher, Locke, H. Myers, Prentice, Fraser, Leonard, Anderson and Scott).

 

Read first time February 28, 1991.  Changing provisions relating to superior court fees.


     AN ACT Relating to superior court fees; amending RCW 36.18.020, 36.18.025, and 27.24.070; reenacting and amending RCW 43.08.250; adding a new section to chapter 43.08 RCW; adding a new section to chapter 36.18 RCW; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

 

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

 

     Sec. 1.  RCW 36.18.020 and 1989 c 342 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

     Clerks of superior courts shall collect the following fees for their official services:

     (1) The party filing the first or initial paper in any civil action, including an action for restitution, or change of name, shall pay, at the time said paper is filed, a fee of ((seventy‑eight)) one hundred ten dollars except in proceedings filed under RCW 26.50.030 or 49.60.227 where the petitioner shall pay a filing fee of twenty dollars, or an unlawful detainer action under chapter 59.18 or 59.20 RCW where the plaintiff shall pay a filing fee of thirty dollars.  If the defendant serves or files an answer to an unlawful detainer complaint under chapter 59.18 or 59.20 RCW, the plaintiff shall pay, prior to proceeding with the unlawful detainer action, an additional ((forty‑eight)) eighty dollars which shall be considered part of the filing fee.  The thirty dollar filing fee under this subsection for an unlawful detainer action shall not include an order to show cause or any other order or judgment except a default order or default judgment in an unlawful detainer action.

     (2) Any party, except a defendant in a criminal case, filing the first or initial paper on an appeal from a court of limited jurisdiction or any party on any civil appeal, shall pay, when said paper is filed, a fee of ((seventy‑eight)) one hundred ten dollars.

     (3) The party filing a transcript or abstract of judgment or verdict from a United States court held in this state, or from the superior court of another county or from a district court in the county of issuance, shall pay at the time of filing, a fee of fifteen dollars.

     (4) For the filing of a tax warrant by the department of revenue of the state of Washington, a fee of five dollars shall be paid.

     (5) For the filing of a petition for modification of a decree of dissolution, a fee of twenty dollars shall be paid.

     (6) The party filing a demand for jury of six in a civil action, shall pay, at the time of filing, a fee of ((twenty‑five)) fifty dollars; if the demand is for a jury of twelve the fee shall be ((fifty)) one hundred dollars.  If, after the party files a demand for a jury of six and pays the required fee, any other party to the action requests a jury of twelve, an additional ((twenty‑five)) fifty‑dollar fee will be required of the party demanding the increased number of jurors.

     (7) For filing any paper, not related to or a part of any proceeding, civil or criminal, or any probate matter, required or permitted to be filed in the clerk's office for which no other charge is provided by law, or for filing a petition, written agreement, or memorandum as provided in RCW 11.96.170, the clerk shall collect two dollars.

     (8) For preparing, transcribing or certifying any instrument on file or of record in the clerk's office, with or without seal, for the first page or portion thereof, a fee of two dollars, and for each additional page or portion thereof, a fee of one dollar.  For authenticating or exemplifying any instrument, a fee of one dollar for each additional seal affixed.

     (9) For executing a certificate, with or without a seal, a fee of two dollars shall be charged.

     (10) For each garnishee defendant named in an affidavit for garnishment and for each writ of attachment, a fee of five dollars shall be charged.

     (11) For approving a bond, including justification thereon, in other than civil actions and probate proceedings, a fee of two dollars shall be charged.

     (12) In probate proceedings, the party instituting such proceedings, shall pay at the time of filing the first paper therein, a fee of ((seventy‑eight)) one hundred ten dollars:  PROVIDED, HOWEVER, A fee of two dollars shall be charged for filing a will only, when no probate of the will is contemplated.  Except as provided for in subsection (13) of this section a fee of two dollars shall be charged for filing a petition, written agreement, or memorandum as provided in RCW 11.96.170.

     (13) For filing any petition to contest a will admitted to probate or a petition to admit a will which has been rejected, or a petition objecting to a written agreement or memorandum as provided in RCW 11.96.170, there shall be paid a fee of ((seventy‑eight)) one hundred ten dollars.

     (14) For the issuance of each certificate of qualification and each certified copy of letters of administration, letters testamentary or letters of guardianship there shall be a fee of two dollars.

     (15) For the preparation of a passport application there shall be a fee of four dollars.

     (16) For searching records for which a written report is issued there shall be a fee of eight dollars per hour.

     (17) Upon conviction or plea of guilty, upon failure to prosecute an appeal from a court of limited jurisdiction as provided by law, or upon affirmance of a conviction by a court of limited jurisdiction, a defendant in a criminal case shall be liable for a fee of ((seventy)) one hundred ten dollars.

     (18) With the exception of demands for jury hereafter made and garnishments hereafter issued, civil actions and probate proceedings filed prior to midnight, July 1, 1972, shall be completed and governed by the fee schedule in effect as of January 1, 1972: PROVIDED, That no fee shall be assessed if an order of dismissal on the clerk's record be filed as provided by rule of the supreme court.

     (19) No fee shall be collected when a petition for relinquishment of parental rights is filed pursuant to RCW 26.33.080 or for forms and instructional brochures provided under RCW 26.50.030.

 

     Sec. 2.  RCW 36.18.025 and 1985 c 389 s 9 are each amended to read as follows:

     ((Thirty‑two)) Forty-six percent of the money received from filing fees paid pursuant to RCW 36.18.020((, as now or hereafter amended,)) shall be transmitted by the county treasurer each month to the state treasurer for deposit in the public safety and education account established under RCW 43.08.250.

 

     Sec. 3.  RCW 43.08.250 and 1991 sp.s. c 16 s 919 and 1991 sp.s. c 13 s 25 are each reenacted and amended to read as follows:

     The money received by the state treasurer from fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, reimbursements or assessments by any court organized under Title 3 or 35 RCW, or chapter 2.08 RCW, shall be deposited in the public safety and education account which is hereby created in the state treasury.  The legislature shall appropriate the funds in the account to promote traffic safety education, highway safety, criminal justice training, crime victims' compensation, judicial education, the judicial information system, civil representation of indigent persons, winter recreation parking, and state game programs.  During the fiscal biennium ending June 30, 1993, the legislature may appropriate moneys from the public safety and education account for the purposes of local jail population data collection under RCW 10.98.130, the department of corrections' county partnership program under RCW 72.09.300, the treatment alternatives to street crimes program, the criminal litigation unit of the attorney general's office, and contracts with county officials to provide support enforcement services.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4.  A new section is added to chapter 43.08 RCW to read as follows:

     (1) Any money appropriated from the public safety and education account pursuant to RCW 43.08.250 for civil representation of indigent persons shall be used solely for the purpose of contracting with qualified legal aid programs for legal representation of indigent persons in matters relating to:  (a) Domestic relations and family law matters, (b) public assistance, health care, and entitlement programs, (c) public housing and utilities, and (d) unemployment compensation.  For purposes of this section, a "qualified legal aid program" means a not-for-profit corporation incorporated and operating exclusively in Washington which has received basic field funding for the provision of civil legal services to indigents under Public Law 101-515.

     (2) Funds distributed to qualified legal aid programs under this section shall be distributed on a basis proportionate to the number of individuals with incomes below the official federal poverty income guidelines who reside within the counties in the geographic service areas of such programs.  The department of community development shall use the same formula for determining this distribution as is used by the legal services corporation in allocating funds for basic field services in the state of Washington.

     (3)(a) Funds distributed to qualified legal aid programs under this section may not be used directly or indirectly for lobbying or in class action suits.  Further, these funds are subject to all limitations and conditions imposed on use of funds made available to legal aid programs under the legal services corporation act of 1974 (P.L. 93-355; P.L. 95-222) as currently in effect or hereafter amended.

     (b)(i) For purposes of this section, "lobbying" means any personal service, advertisement, telegram, telephone communication, letter, printed or written matter, or other device directly or indirectly intended to influence any member of congress or any other federal, state, or local nonjudicial official, whether elected or appointed:

     (A) In connection with any act, bill, resolution, or similar legislation by the congress of the United States or by any state or local legislative body, or any administrative rule, standard, rate, or other enactment by any federal, state, or local administrative agency;

     (B) In connection with any referendum, initiative, constitutional amendment, or any similar procedure of the congress, any state legislature, any local council, or any similar governing body acting in a legislative capacity; or

     (C) In connection with inclusion of any provision in a legislative measure appropriating funds to, or defining or limiting the functions or authority of, the recipient of funds pursuant to this act.

     (ii) "Lobbying" does not include the response of an employee of a legal aid program to a written request from a governmental agency, an elected or appointed official, or committee on a specific matter.  This exception does not authorize communication with anyone other than the requesting party, or agent or employee of such agency, official, or committee.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5.  A new section is added to chapter 36.18 RCW to read as follows:

     The court may waive the filing fees provided for under RCW 36.18.020 (1) and (2) upon affidavit by a party that the party is unable to pay the fee due to financial hardship.

 

     Sec. 6.  RCW 27.24.070 and 1985 c 389 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

     In each county pursuant to this chapter, the county treasurer shall deposit in the county or regional law library fund a sum equal to ((seven)) twelve dollars for every new probate or civil filing fee, including  appeals, collected by the clerk of the superior court and ((three)) six dollars for every fee collected for the commencement of a civil action in district court for the support of the law library in that county or the regional law library to which the county belongs:  PROVIDED, That upon a showing of need the ((seven)) twelve dollar contribution may be increased up to ((nine)) fifteen dollars upon the request of the law library board of trustees and with the approval of the county legislative body or bodies.

 

     NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7.      This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and shall take effect April 1, 1992.