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Missouri committee hears testimony to remove sunset on basic civil legal services fee
Summary
Witnesses told the House Judiciary Committee that the fee funds civil legal assistance for low-income Missourians; sponsor and legal-aid witnesses urged removing the fee’s sunset, while testimony clarified the fee is collected as court fees rather than general state revenue. Fiscal note discussed in hearing.
Representative Rudy Bede introduced House Bill 124 as an extension of the basic civil legal services fee, explaining the bill would remove the fee’s sunset provision that has been in place since February 2003.
Witnesses from legal-aid organizations described client cases they said illustrate the fee’s public-interest purpose. Paula Green, a senior attorney with Legal Services of Southern Missouri, described housing clients whose conditions and evictions were addressed through legal representation: "At 1 point Sarah had over 6 inches of raw…
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