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Senate committee approves move of select court fees to general revenue, opens study of remaining fees
Summary
SB575 will shift driver's license reinstatement and installment fees from special to general revenue while guaranteeing agencies receive equivalent funding; the bill also creates a task force to study other court-related fees for future reform.
An Arkansas Senate committee on Wednesday approved SB575, a bill that moves two widely criticized court-related fees into general revenue and creates a study group to examine other justice-system fees.
Senator Clark Tucker presented the bill and its amendment, saying the measure targets the installment fee and the driver's-license reinstatement fee — two charges critics say hinder low-income people from regaining legal driving status and paying fines. "If your driver's license is suspended, it makes it difficult for you to drive to work and maintain employment and pay off your fines and fees," Tucker told the committee.
The amendment adopted in committee would convert those fees from special revenue to general revenue while guaranteeing that agencies that historically received the fees (for example, the Arkansas State Police pension fund and the Administrative Office of the Courts) would continue to receive the same dollar amounts on average over the last five years. Tucker said the change is intended to unclog future legislative reform: moving the revenue to general funds would allow a subsequent legislature to consider modifying or eliminating fees without running into special-revenue constraints.
The bill also establishes a task force to study the remainder of court- and justice-related fees. Tucker told the committee he had coordinated with the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Finance and Administration on draft figures and would not advance the bill if the affected agencies could not be made whole.
The committee adopted the amendment and passed SB575 as amended by voice vote.
Proponents characterized the measure as a first step to enable future reforms of fees that impose burdens on people with low incomes. No formal opposition was recorded during the hearing.
SB575 will proceed to the full Senate; sponsors said they will work with DFA and AOC to finalize the guaranteed funding figures before final passage.
