Judiciary hears proposal to raise multiple court fees, including civil filing charge

The House Judiciary Committee on Monday heard testimony on Senate Bill 2057, a measure introduced at the request of the Supreme Court that would raise multiple court fees, from civil filing fees to criminal assessment charges, and change how some fees are split between state and local funds.

State Court Administrator Sally Haleva testified for the bill, telling the committee the proposal responds to long-neglected fees that “haven't been increased for the most part since 1995” and that even after the proposed increases North Dakota’s filing fees would remain among the lowest nationwide. "Everything that we do has a cost. It's either a cost to the public, a cost to the user, or it's a shared cost," Haleva said, arguing the current distribution places too much burden on the public.

Haleva walked the committee through specific changes the bill would make. Key civil-fee proposals in her testimony included doubling the general civil filing fee from $80 to $160 and the family case filing fee from $80 to $160, increasing the…