Florida Senate - 2012 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT Bill No. SPB 7064 Barcode 439706 LEGISLATIVE ACTION Senate . House Comm: WD . 02/18/2012 . . . . ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— The Committee on Budget (Siplin) recommended the following: 1 Senate Amendment (with title amendment) 2 3 Between lines 218 and 219 4 insert: 5 Section 4. Subsection (6) of section 28.246, Florida 6 Statutes, is amended to read: 7 28.246 Payment of court-related fees, charges, and costs; 8 partial payments; distribution of funds.— 9 (6) A clerk of court shall pursue the collection of any 10 fees, service charges, fines, court costs, and liens for the 11 payment of attorney’s fees and costs pursuant to s. 938.29 which 12 remain unpaid after 90 days by referring the account to a 13 private attorney who is a member in good standing of The Florida 14 Bar or collection agent who is registered and in good standing 15 pursuant to chapter 559. In pursuing the collection of such 16 unpaid financial obligations through a private attorney or 17 collection agent, the clerk of the court must have attempted to 18 collect the unpaid amount through a collection court, 19 collections docket, or other collections process, if any, 20 established by the court, find this to be cost-effective and 21 follow any applicable procurement practices. The collection fee, 22 including any reasonable attorney’s fee, paid to any attorney or 23 collection agent retained by the clerk may be added to the 24 balance owed in an amount not to exceed 2040percent of the 25 amount owed at the time the account is referred to the attorney 26 or agent for collection. The clerk shall give the private 27 attorney or collection agent the application for the appointment 28 of court-appointed counsel regardless of whether the court file 29 is otherwise confidential from disclosure. 30 Section 5. For the purpose of incorporating the amendment 31 made by this act to section 28.246, Florida Statutes, in a 32 reference thereto, subsection (1) of section 34.191, Florida 33 Statutes, is reenacted to read: 34 34.191 Fines and forfeitures; dispositions.— 35 (1) All fines and forfeitures arising from offenses tried 36 in the county court shall be collected and accounted for by the 37 clerk of the court and, other than the charge provided in s. 38 318.1215, disbursed in accordance with ss. 28.2402, 34.045, 39 142.01, and 142.03 and subject to the provisions of s. 28.246(5) 40 and (6). Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, all 41 fines and forfeitures arising from operation of the provisions 42 of s. 318.1215 shall be disbursed in accordance with that 43 section. 44 45 ================= T I T L E A M E N D M E N T ================ 46 And the title is amended as follows: 47 48 Delete line 17 49 and insert: 50 51 payment in excess of the flat fee established by law; 52 amending s. 28.246, F.S.; providing that the 53 collection fee, including a reasonable attorney fee, 54 paid to an attorney or collection agent retained by 55 the clerk may not exceed 20 percent rather than 40 56 percent of the amount owed at the time the account is 57 referred to the attorney or agent for collection; 58 reenacting s. 34.191(1), F.S., relating to fines, to 59 incorporate the amendment made to s. 28.246, F.S., in 60 a reference thereto;