Committee adopts amendment to bar vendor fees on criminal filings (SB 313)

Senate Bill 313 was presented March 31 to the Senate Committee on Judiciary B to clarify that criminal‑filing fees cannot be charged during a criminal proceeding and to stop vendors from imposing processing fees on filers. Senator Jackson Andrews, sponsor of the bill, said the state Supreme Court has long held that filing fees may not be charged during a proceeding and the bill would prevent unconstitutional billing practices.

Senator Jackson Andrews offered Amendment Set 15‑25 to add language that explicitly bars third‑party vendors from charging a processing fee on criminal filings or passing that fee on to clerks. “What it says now is a third party vendor cannot charge a processing fee on criminal filings nor can they pass that processing fee on to the clerks,” the sponsor said in committee. The amendment was adopted by unanimous consent.

The chair asked if there were any questions or public testimony; the committee accepted one email into the record from Sarah Chervinsky of the Chervinsky Law Firm in support. With no objections, Senator Reese moved to report SB 313 as amended and the committee did so by unanimous consent.

The committee took no roll‑call vote in committee; the action was reported out to the Senate floor for consideration with the adopted amendment. The bill’s text and adopted amendment are posted with the committee materials online.

Next steps: SB 313 was reported out of committee and will be placed on the Senate calendar for further consideration.