House Appropriations Committee approves H937, reduces restitution fund fee cap

The House Appropriations Committee on Thursday voted to approve H937, "an act relating to miscellaneous judiciary procedures," adopting a change that reduces the fee cap for the Crime Victim Restitution Special Fund from 10,000 to 5,000.

Committee leadership said the change has no general fund or broader budget implications and described the edits in section 15 as technical confirmations of earlier changes. The chair asked the clerk to call the roll; a motion to approve the bill was moved by Wayne, and the clerk recorded affirmative votes from multiple members including Representatives Bloomley, Ticket, Cassa, Ro, Rawiki, Mro, Steven and Yakaboni.

Committee members and staff identified page 17, section 15 as the location of the adjustment to the Crime Victim Restitution Special Fund. Members also noted other fee language in the bill — for example, a $50 fee for possession of tobacco products — is not new and was not altered by this action. Trevor was identified during discussion as the person familiar with the bill's fee language and addressed procedural questions about whether fees were "in or out." The chair said the fund has the money to cover the change.

The committee moved H937 out of Appropriations; the bill will proceed to the next step in the legislative process as scheduled.