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Legislative counsel briefs Appropriations on judiciary technical bill H.937 correcting restitution cap and minor fee impacts
Summary
Legislative counsel Eric Fitzpatrick told the committee H.937 is a miscellaneous judiciary package that includes conforming statute changes to replace lingering $10,000 restitution-advance references with the current $5,000 cap and a small license-reinstatement fee provision; fiscal impact is minor and the bill will proceed through Ways and Means.
Eric Fitzpatrick of the Office of Legislative Counsel told the House Appropriations Committee that H.937 is a miscellaneous judiciary procedures bill containing roughly 30 discrete statutory fixes. He focused on sections that correct statutory cross-references to a victim restitution advance cap, noting the legislature had previously reduced the cap from $10,000 to $5,000 but some statutory references were not changed in all places.
"That's all this is," Fitzpatrick said, describing the changes as categorical corrections to align statute with current practice. He explained that the cap on advance payments from the victims restitution fund was reduced in prior legislation but several statutory cross-references still read $10,000; H.937 would change those to $5,000 in multiple locations.
Fitzpatrick also flagged a small fee-related provision that would automatically reinstate certain suspended driver's licenses and thereby reduce license-reinstatement-fee revenue by an estimated roughly $8,000; staff characterized that impact as small relative to a fund with more than $20 million in total receipts. The fiscal note for the bill was described as minimal and the committee was told Ways and Means planned to vote on the bill imminently.
Members did not take a final vote in Appropriations during the hearing; staff said the committee will receive the bill language and fiscal paperwork and could vote later the same day after documentation is provided.
