Senate rejects bill raising justice-court limit to $5,000 after dispute over clerks' fees

The Senate voted down legislation that would have raised the civil jurisdictional limit for justice courts from $3,500 to $5,000 and adjusted court filing fees, with the measure failing after a roll-call tally produced 28 "no" votes.

Sponsor Senator Wiggins, who led the amendment effort, said the amendment would allow justice court clerks to assess an additional $30 fee on cases over $3,500 and would preserve existing fee streams for circuit clerks. "It will make them whole," Wiggins said, describing the change as a way to address clerks' revenue concerns.

The dispute centered on how fee revenue would be allocated between circuit clerks and justice court clerks and whether the change would meaningfully alter workloads or compensation for justice court judges. Senator DeBarr asked whether the circuit clerks supported the amendment; Wiggins said he had spoken with the Circuit Clerks Association president and that she expressed support. "I spoke with the circuit clerks association president," Wiggins said. "She said, Senator Wiggins, that's what we want to do."

Several senators pressed for clarity on practical effects. Senator Hobson said he was still confused and worried about whether the body had sufficient information to tell local clerks what to expect. "I'm probably more confused now than I was at the beginning of this," Hobson said during questioning. Senator Felegain asked whether justice court judges would receive additional compensation to match any increase in caseload; Wiggins said the amendment did not address judges' pay.

Senators debated technical points: the bill previously permitted a $50 fee in certain cases, and an earlier vote increased a separate circuit-clerk filing fee from $75 to $85. The amendment before the Senate would have authorized justice court clerks to assess an additional $30 fee on qualifying cases; adopting the amendment was intended to preserve overall fee collections across courts while raising the jurisdictional threshold to $5,000. Wiggins described the bill as maintaining "the status quo in terms of the fees that are being collected in the two different courts. Nobody's gonna be losing anything."

Senators ultimately voted down the measure. After a motion to adopt the amendment failed and the Senate returned to the underlying bill, the final roll call recorded 28 votes against the bill and the measure failed.

The discussion produced no change in statutory language during the session; senators directed several follow-up topics — including the distribution of filing fees, the practical effects on justice court scheduling across jurisdictions, and whether judicial compensation should be revisited — to future consideration, but no formal new direction or study was made on the floor during the vote.