Committee advances bill to extend 2021 elimination of many juvenile court fees

House lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee voted 8‑3 to advance legislation that would preserve the 2021 decision to stop assessing many administrative juvenile court fees and prevent those fees from being resumed on July 1.

Supporters told the committee the bill, presented as a narrow technical fix, would extend the elimination adopted in House Bill 21‑1315 and prevent resumption of collections for juveniles or people prosecuted as juveniles.

Supporters said the 2021 law was bipartisan and intended to stop collecting administrative fees and court costs that do not further rehabilitation or public safety. They told the committee that the Judicial Department has continued to assess some fees in a technical sense but has not been collecting most of them since 2021, and that an unintended repeal date in the original statute would resume collections on July 1 unless the Legislature acts.

The bill sponsors, Rep. Jackson and Rep. Joseph, asked the committee to adopt two amendments: a title change to clarify the bill's scope and a strike‑below to…