Bill Text: NH HB1575 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Prohibiting certain court filing fees.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-10 - Inexpedient to Legislate: Motion Adopted Voice Vote 03/09/2016 House Journal 23 P. 165 [HB1575 Detail]

Download: New_Hampshire-2016-HB1575-Introduced.html

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HB 1575-FN - AS INTRODUCED

 

2016 SESSION

16-2404

09/05

 

HOUSE BILL 1575-FN

 

AN ACT prohibiting certain court filing fees.

 

SPONSORS: Rep. Brewster, Merr. 21

 

COMMITTEE: Judiciary

 

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ANALYSIS

 

This bill prohibits the supreme court from establishing court fees for civil cases and appeals of civil cases which are actions against governmental entities or officials or employees of governmental entities.

 

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

16-2404

09/05

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

 

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Sixteen

 

AN ACT prohibiting certain court filing fees.

 

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

 

1  Court Filing Fees; Exception.  Amend RSA 490:26-a, I to read as follows:

I.  The supreme court shall establish by rule an equitable fee schedule for all courts in the state.  Under no circumstances shall the supreme court establish fees for civil cases and appeals of civil cases which are actions against governmental entities or officials or employees of governmental entities.

2  Effective Date.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2017.

 

LBAO

16-2404

11/30/15

 

HB 1575-FN- FISCAL NOTE

 

AN ACT prohibiting certain court filing fees.

 

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

The Judicial Branch states this bill, as introduced, will reduce state revenue and expenditures by an indeterminable amount in FY 2017 and each year thereafter.  There will be no fiscal impact on county and local expenditures or revenues.

 

METHODOLOGY:

The Judicial Branch states the proposed bill would amend RSA 490:26-a, I, to prohibit the Supreme Court from establishing fees for civil cases and appeals of civil cases which are actions against governmental entities or officials or employees of governmental entities.  The Branch states it does not have a separate category in its trial court case management system for cases where the government is a defendant, but was able to search the system for cases where the name of a government entity was a defendant. The search was conducted on FY 2015 data and yielded 701 superior court cases and 97 circuit court cases brought against government entities or officials or employees of government entities.  The Branch states these numbers are understated since some cases would not have been captured using the selected search terms.  For the purpose of estimating the fiscal impact, the Branch assumes the filing fees were paid for all cases.  This assumption overstates the impact as some fees are waived in whole or in part due to indigency.  Based on these assumptions and the identified cases, the Branch provided the following potential impact:

 

Revenue	Increase/(Decrease)
Superior Court Cases (701 cases X $250 filing fee)	($175,250)
Circuit Court Cases (97 cases X $175 filing fee)	($16,975)
Total Revenue Impact:	($192,225)
Funds Effected
Escrow Fund for Court Facility Improvements	($10,337)
Judicial Branch Information Technology Fund	($51,682)
State General Fund	($130,206)
	($192,225)