Florida Senate - 2021 CS for SB 386
By the Committee on Judiciary; and Senator Wright
590-03550-21 2021386c1
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to courts; amending s. 28.246, F.S.;
3 revising a presumption regarding a monthly payment
4 amount under a payment plan for court-related
5 assessments; authorizing a court to waive, modify, and
6 convert certain fees, costs, and service charges into
7 community service under specified circumstances;
8 amending s. 318.21, F.S.; revising the disposition of
9 civil penalties received by a county court; providing
10 an effective date.
11
12 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
13
14 Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 28.246, Florida
15 Statutes, is amended to read:
16 28.246 Payment of court-related fines or other monetary
17 penalties, fees, charges, and costs; partial payments;
18 distribution of funds.—
19 (4) The clerk of the circuit court shall accept partial
20 payments for court-related fees, service charges, costs, and
21 fines in accordance with the terms of an established payment
22 plan. An individual seeking to defer payment of fees, service
23 charges, costs, or fines imposed by operation of law or order of
24 the court under any provision of general law shall apply to the
25 clerk for enrollment in a payment plan. The clerk shall enter
26 into a payment plan with an individual who the court determines
27 is indigent for costs. A monthly payment amount, calculated
28 based upon all fees and all anticipated costs, is presumed to
29 correspond to the person’s ability to pay if the amount does not
30 exceed 2 percent of the person’s annual net income, as defined
31 in s. 27.52(1), divided by 12 or $10, whichever is greater. The
32 court may review the reasonableness of the payment plan and may,
33 on its own motion or by petition, waive, modify, or convert the
34 outstanding fees, costs, or service charges to community service
35 if the court determines that the individual is indigent or, due
36 to compelling circumstances, is unable to comply with the terms
37 of the payment plan.
38 Section 2. Paragraph (g) of subsection (2) of section
39 318.21, Florida Statutes, is amended, and subsection (1) of that
40 section is republished, to read:
41 318.21 Disposition of civil penalties by county courts.—All
42 civil penalties received by a county court pursuant to the
43 provisions of this chapter shall be distributed and paid monthly
44 as follows:
45 (1) One dollar from every civil penalty shall be remitted
46 to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the Child Welfare
47 Training Trust Fund for child welfare training purposes pursuant
48 to s. 402.40. One dollar from every civil penalty shall be
49 remitted to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the
50 Juvenile Justice Training Trust Fund for juvenile justice
51 purposes pursuant to s. 985.66.
52 (2) Of the remainder:
53 (g)1. If the violation occurred within a special
54 improvement district of the Seminole Indian Tribe or Miccosukee
55 Indian Tribe, 56.4 percent shall be paid to that special
56 improvement district.
57 2. If the violation occurred within a municipality, 50.8
58 percent shall be paid to that municipality and 5.6 percent shall
59 be deposited into the fine and forfeiture trust fund established
60 pursuant to s. 142.01.
61 3. If the violation occurred within a municipality or
62 within the unincorporated area of a county, including the
63 unincorporated areas, if any, of a government created pursuant
64 to s. 6(e), Art. VIII of the State Constitution, that is not
65 within a special improvement district of the Seminole Indian
66 Tribe or Miccosukee Indian Tribe, 56.4 percent shall be
67 deposited into the fine and forfeiture fund established pursuant
68 to s. 142.01.
69 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2021.