S.B. 283 Court Fees and Administration Amendments: transcript

Thank you Mr. Chair. This won will be much shorter, I promise. I'm gonna invite Mr. Drexel if he's in the audience to come forward. Um, it was 2 83. Yes, I am not good with bill numbers. I saw him here and I was wonder I didn't have a bill, so I was wondering why he was here. So Yeah, he, I know he only usually comes for yours. Um, so this bill modifies the provisions related to fees and various administrative procedures of the court system. It would remove obsolete provisions, obsolete provisions, allow a sheriff to appoint a law school graduate as bailiff. Um, I actually had a job offer as a bailiff when I first graduated from the bar. I ended up getting a better offer, but that would've been fun. It requires the judicial council to create a fine schedule for juvenile courts and removes those provisions, I'm sorry, removes those obsolete provisions. So, I'm sorry. It's removing the law school graduate, removing the judicial council's obligation to create a fine schedule for juvenile courts and removes, um, the use of revenue from court fees to fund court building projects. It does also update terminology. Provides that all civil document fees for justice court and courts of record are provided at no charge to the state, state agencies or political subdivisions. Increases the filing fee surcharges for cases filed using the ocap system online court assistance, which has not been increased, I think for two decades, um, requires the administrative office of the courts to use appropriated funds from the court security account to contract for court security at all courts of record. And it provides that a request for a protective order does not have a filing fee surcharge under the OCAP system. And, um, I'll go ahead and conclude my presentation there and we'll just let Mr. Drexel, um, help me answer any questions.

I'll go ahead and move that. We, the committee favorably recommend Senate Bill 2 83 to the body of the Senate. Alright,

This is one of those fun days where I had a, a court hearing on virtual court hearing at two, these two bills here. And I still need to run over to the house and present a bill there. So, um, nothing more fun than an afternoon like this one.

substitute online Senate bill 2 83 court fees and administration amendments. Yes. Thank you. And I would like, I would hope that I'll, I'll present the first sub and I hope that somebody can present, uh, to move that for us. But, um, this bill basically, um, waives, uh, the civil document filing fees for the state and political subdivisions and adjusts the online court assistance program. So we call the Online Court Assistance Program ocap, and it's been around for I think about 20 years. And they've never raised the fees. And I don't know if, if you know this, but the majority of people that get divorced in this state, they're both, both the husband and wife or both parties, um, are, are, are, are often unrepresented because they can't afford an attorney. And so what they usually do is they go, they log onto ocap and they type in all their information and it, it just prints out all the forms and they take that down to the courthouse and they, um, they file it. And so ocap, uh, charges a fee. Um, there's no fee to print out their forms, but when, when you actually file that, then, then they, they add on the fee. Um, that's been my experience at least. And so, um, this is a wonderful program and it saves our constituents, um, tens of thousands of dollars in attorney's fees. And I say that as an attorney. Um, there's also ocap forms for other, uh, simple things like, um, a lot of family law things and some, there's some eviction forms and some other forms. And so this does raise the fee, um, from $20 to $60. And that, that is a, a jump. But it's also, again, the first time, I think since like, uh, the 1990s or the early two thousands, and it's still the best deal in town. Um, the bill has a couple of other things that does. It removes some obsolete statutory provisions and updates terminology to modernize and streamline court operations. And it re also requires the administrative office of the courts or the a OC to use court security account funds to ensure consistent security services at all courts of record. And that concludes my presentation.

Good. I am the floor sponsor on this bill, So I was hoping it was a good bill. That's great. It's a great bill.

Welcome Brett. Thank you. And, and good afternoon, Madam Chair and members of the committee. Uh, Brett Robinson, uh, chief Policy Advisor at the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office. And we just want to thank, uh, both the sponsor, um, Senator Weiler and the courts for working with us on this. Um, it's a very small change. It's just two words that are, they've managed to take out of the code for us, um, to make sure that we aren't gonna be charged prosecution offices generally for certified copies for prior convictions. Um, this is something that the courts after reading the statute determine that they needed to charge us, um, starting in January and all of a sudden all of these prosecution offices big and small started realizing that their operational budgets were getting hit by having to pay these fees. And we brought this to the attention of the sponsor into the courts, and they're willing to work with us and, and work this into this bill. So we're grateful for them and for that effort and encourage its passage. Thank you.

Uh, thank you committee members. My name's Michael Drexel. I'm the assistant state court administrator. Just to put a slightly finer point on something that, uh, Mr. Robinson just shared with you all. Um, for many years, we just misinterpreted, I think the fee statute, those fees go to the general fund. Typically, they don't come to the courts. And as we took a closer look at it, actually before last session, we realized that we probably were inadvertently not assessing a fee that we should have been under statutory language. And so we communicated that to stakeholders. We tried actually to have this run in a bill last year, but it didn't, didn't pass through the, the full process and then held off on assessing those fees against government entities for an additional year in contravention of statute. I hope, you know, that that was a difficult thing for us to do, but, um, ultimately, uh, just started assessing those fees last month and or in January. But we're hopeful that you can remove that language as well so that the government doesn't have to be paying the government to do the work. Uh, we do believe deeply in trying to make sure that people can access the courts even if they can't afford an attorney, if they're pro se. The online court assistance program is a way for people to engage with the court system on their own terms and try and find relief, um, so that they're not prohibited or left, uh, kind of scratching their heads and wondering how to proceed. We would like to make that a robust service for people. What we see is in the, in the private realm, there are entities that are jumping into this space and charging people 10 times the amount that the, or sometimes 20 times more, right. Um, by scraping the forms out of our own process. So we want to make sure it's robust for people. Um, I'm out of time, but Senator Weiler asked me to speak to one thing. Can I Continue or I can do it? Yes.

Thank you. Yes. In the first sub, there are four fee increases that you'll see and that I can tell you what lines those are on if you'd like. But it increases the, the civil complaint fee when somebody's filing a civil complaint by $15. In two instances, those that are under $2,000 in controversy, and those that are between 2000 and $10,000 in controversy. It also increases, uh, the divorce filing fee by $25 is, is what's proposed. Um, and then it increases the, the fee to get a writ for a garnishment by $25 as well. The reason for these proposals actually is part of the appropriation subcommittee process. What that we've all been through in the criminal justice appropriation subcommittee. The courts were asked to cut, uh, like all government agencies, a significant amount of funding, which would've resulted in a loss of 30 FTEs approximately. Um, typically those would be judicial assistance that we could sorely afford to, to, to lose. And so in working collaboratively with the legislative fiscal analysts and the chairs of the criminal justice appropriation subcommittee, we, I've identified a way to increase some fees in order to offset the, the revenue reduction and allow us to keep those necessary resources to continue serving the public.

Um, I'll waive. I appreciate Mr. Drexel for picking up the scraps that I forgot to mention. So,

Thank you Mr. President. Um, this bill, uh, provides that all civil documents for courts are provided at no charge to the state or to political subdivisions. It also requires the administrative office of the courts to use appropriated funds from the court security account to contract for security. Provides that protective orders will not have a filing fee surcharge, and also increases the fee for surcharge for cases filed using the online court assistance program, which has not been increased for two decades. With that, I'll yield to any questions.

Thank you. I will waive summation to move that Senate Bill 2 83. Be read for a third time.

Senator Cullimore. Senator Cullimore. Motion to circle. Motion to circle sponsors off The floor. Motion to circle.

Senator McKay. Motion to circle for just a minute while we Work out a small issue. Motion to circle. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion to circle. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed?

that protective orders can be filed without a filing fee and it does update the filing surcharge for cases filed using the online court assistance program, which has not been updated in two decades. Uh, with that, I'll, I'll yield any questions

Uh, I would move, I move that, uh, Senate Bill 2 83 pass

Thank you Mr. Speaker. Uh, this bill removes, uh, obsolete, uh, statutory provisions regarding the courts. Uh, the Bill Modernizes court statutes improves efficiency in government filings and strengthens court health security while preserving access to, uh, protective order applicants and modifies the ocap filing fee that hasn't been moved in about 20 years. Ocap is a wonderful mechanism. It's called the Online Court Assistance Program. Helps people file divorces and other legal documents without an attorney. It saves people thousands. Um, we're increasing the price of, of the fee a little bit to keep up with inflationary costs, um, and maintenance fees. Uh, this also does away with some obsolete things in the courts that haven't existed for a while. For example, when I Uintah Law School, they did away with this program called Law Clerk Bailiffs, where you take as a law student, go work for a court and, and draft orders, but you'd also go to the police academy and be a bailiff. And as it turns out, these guys were kind of the sparks of the judiciary. They weren't good at either one. So we got rid of that program. It hasn't been a thing for about 10 years. Make some other minor changes. And with that I'm open to questions. Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker. It is true. He chose my liner, I chose his. And so that's the only difference in the two suits.

You Mr. Speaker. Ya are bipartisanship is the best ship. Oh boy. Thank you.