Brief Description: Prohibiting charging clerk's fees to law enforcement agencies for records concerning sex offenders.

Sponsors: By House Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections (originally sponsored by Representative O'Brien).

House Committee on Criminal Justice & Corrections
Senate Committee on Human Services & Corrections

Background:

Superior court clerks collect fees on a variety of court filings. This includes fees for such filings as petitions for unlawful harassment, probate proceedings, initial filings in civil actions, a petition to contest a will, and others. A court may waive these filing fees if a party is unable to pay the fee. The revenue collected from these fees is divided between the State Public Safety and Education Account and the county. Local courts also charge fees for copies of court documents and files. A $2 fee is charged for the first page of a document and a $1 fee is charged for each additional page that is copied. These fees are not distributed between the Public Safety and Education Account and the county, but rather remain with the county.

Local law enforcement agencies are responsible for notifying communities that a sex offender has moved into an area. The level of notification varies depending on the risk level of the offender.

Summary:

Public agencies are prohibited from charging a law enforcement agency for preparing, copying, or mailing records when these records are necessary for either a risk assessment of a sex offender, maintenance of a sex offender registration file, or preparation of a case for failure to register as a sex offender.

Votes on Final Passage:

House   97   0
Senate   38   0

Effective: July 24, 2005