State Court Administrator proposes sweeping fee increases; committee delays action for cleanup and possible amendment

State Court Administrator Sally Holeva presented Senate Bill 2057, a broad package of proposed increases to civil filing fees, court administrative fees and several criminal-case fees, and the Senate Judiciary Committee closed the hearing but declined to take immediate action so the bill can be reorganized and amended.

Holeva said many court filing and administrative fees have not been adjusted since 1995; using inflation and wage comparisons, she testified that several fees should roughly double to reflect current costs. She described examples: the small-claims filing fee would rise from $10 to $20; civil filing fees from $80 to $160; Supreme Court filing fees from $125 to $250; and a variety of certified-copy, motion, answer and document-transmission fees would increase. Some criminal-related fees — including the criminal court administration fee, court-administration/indigent-defense split, and community-service supervision fee — were listed with larger increases.

Holeva explained some fees are split between state and county depending on whether clerks are state or county employees, and some fees support specific programs such as civil legal services, displaced‑homemaker adult learning programs, indigent-defense administration and courthouse facility grants. She said many fees can be waived if a judge finds a party indigent.

Committee members asked staff to reorganize and clarify language and fee labels before further action. Senator Castaneda raised the fiscal note showing more than $6 million in projected revenue and asked whether the bill must be referred to appropriations; the chair said she would check before the committee acts. The committee closed the hearing and will not take action until an amended, clearer draft is available.