House committee reviews bill to end DOC supervisory fees, seeks cost and collection details

Legislative counsel and Department of Corrections officials briefed the House Corrections & Institutions committee on H.635 on Jan. 28, a bill that would remove statutory authority to impose supervisory fees and forgive existing supervisory-fee debt. The measure would repeal the Title 28 authority for an up-to-$30 supervisory fee for people on probation, furlough, supervised community sentences and parole and would require DOC to cease collection and erase references to those fees in online portals and records.

John Gray of the Office of Legislative Counsel told the committee that the bill’s statutory changes are straightforward and that the session-law language is designed to "wipe the slate clean" for outstanding supervisory fees, and to remove the commissioner’s authority to enter into collection contracts tied to those fees. Gray noted the Administrative Procedure Act mechanisms that lead rules to expire when their statutory authority is repealed and said the bill asks DOC to identify and notify the Secretary of State about rules adopted under the repealed authority so those rules can be deleted.

The bill…