Relating to the criminal and juvenile justice system by modifying criminal penalties, surcharges, fines, fees, and costs, creating and modifying funds, making appropriations and allocating revenues, modifying installment agreements, modifying civil claims for reimbursement, restitution, and collection of court debt, and providing effective date provisions

Description

Senate File 457 relates to surcharges added to criminal penalties, court funds, civil fees, misdemeanor and felony fines, and fines associated with scheduled violations. This Bill takes effect July 15, 2020, except for Division XII, which takes effect upon enactment, and Division XIV, which takes effect on January 1, 2021.

Fiscal Impact Summary Tables are available at the end of this document starting on page 16. Division I — Surcharges Added to Criminal Penalties and Distribution

Description

Iowa Code Chapter 911 Surcharges Division I makes the following changes to the surcharges under Iowa Code chapter 911:

• Changes the name of the Criminal Penalty Surcharge to the Crime Services Surcharge and reduces the surcharge from 35.0% to 15.0% of the fine or forfeiture imposed. The Crime Services Surcharge is remitted to the State Court Administrator and is distributed as follows:
• 46.0% to the Juvenile Detention Home Fund.
• 32.0% to the Victim Compensation Fund.
• 20.0% to Criminalistics Laboratory Fund.
• 2.0% to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Fund established in this Bill.
• Repeals the Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge in Iowa Code section 911.3, the DARE Surcharge in Iowa Code section 911.2, and the County Enforcement Surcharge in Iowa Code section 911.4.
• Combines the domestic abuse surcharges under Iowa Code sections 911.2B and 911.2C into a single surcharge of $90 per applicable offense.
• Establishes the Agricultural Property Offense Surcharge under Iowa Code section 911.5. A person convicted of a crime relating to agricultural property is subject to a surcharge equal to $500. The collections generated from the assessment of the surcharge are required to be remitted by the clerk of court to the State Court Administrator and deposited in the State General Fund. The amount deposited is then appropriated to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) to support the Iowa Emergency Food Purchase Program Fund established in new Iowa Code section 190B.201.

Court Costs

Division I reduces the court costs under Iowa Code section 602.8106 from $60 to $55. See Attachments A and B for the distribution of the Criminal Penalty Surcharge under current law and the proposed Crime Services Surcharge distribution under SF 457.

City Fines

Division I modifies the city/State fine and forfeited bail distribution under Iowa Code section 602.8106(2). Under the modified distribution, 80.0% of all fines and forfeited bail is distributed to the city that was the plaintiff in the action, and the remaining 20.0% is remitted to the State General Fund.

County Fines

Division I adds a provision under Iowa Code section 602.8106(4) that distributes the fine revenue for a violation that occurred within the boundaries of the county as follows: 91.0% to the State Court Administrator and 9.0% to the county where the violation occurred or citation was issued. Of the 91.0% remitted to the State Court Administrator, 1.3% is distributed to the Emergency Medical Services Fund and the remainder is deposited in the State General Fund. Division I provides that the moneys collected and credited to the county general fund from county ordinances shall be distributed in the manner described in Iowa Code section 356.7. The Division also amends Iowa Code section 356.7 to include medical and prescription drug costs of inmates in jail as a purpose for which county ordinance fine revenue may be used.

Background

Criminal Penalty Surcharge — Iowa Code Section 911.1 When the court imposes a fine or forfeiture for a violation of State law or a city or county ordinance, except a parking ordinance, the clerk of court imposes an additional penalty in the form of a Criminal Penalty Surcharge equal to 35.0% of the fine or forfeiture imposed by the court. This surcharge does not apply to civil penalties.

Under current law, the Criminal Penalty Surcharge revenue is divided as follows: 95.0% is remitted to the State, and the remaining 5.0% is remitted to the county treasurer of the county or the city clerk of the city that was the plaintiff in the action. Of the amount remitted to the State, 17.0% is deposited in the Victim Compensation Fund (Iowa Code section 915.94), and 83.0% is deposited in the State General Fund. Refer to the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) Fiscal Topic Criminal Fine Revenue and Surcharge Distribution for further information. Domestic Abuse Surcharges — Iowa Code Sections 911.2B and 911.2C Currently, under Iowa Code section 911.2B, in addition to any other surcharge, a surcharge of $100 is assessed if an adjudication of guilt or a deferred judgment has been entered for a violation of Iowa Code section 708.2A, 708.11, or 710A.2, or Iowa Code chapter 709. Under Iowa Code section 911.2C, a surcharge of $50 is assessed against a defendant who is held in contempt of court for violating a domestic abuse protective order. The revenue collected from assessment of Iowa Code sections 911.2B and 911.2C surcharges is deposited in the Address Confidentiality Revolving Fund established in Iowa Code section 9.8.

Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge — Iowa Code Section 911.3 Under current law, in addition to any other surcharge, the court is required to assess a Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge of $125 if an adjudication of guilt or a deferred judgment has been entered for a criminal violation under any of the following: Iowa Code chapter 124, 155A, 453B, 713, 714, 715A, or 716, or Iowa Code section 719.7, 719.8, 725.1, 725.2, or 725.3. The collections generated from the assessment of the surcharge are deposited in the State General Fund.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education Surcharge — Iowa Code Section 911.2 Currently, in addition to any other surcharge, the court is required to assess a DARE Surcharge of $10 if a violation arises out of an offense provided for in Iowa Code chapter 321J or 124, subchapter IV. The collections generated from the assessment of the surcharge are deposited in the State General Fund, and the amount deposited is appropriated to the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy (ODCP) for use by the DARE Program and other programs with a similar purpose.

County Enforcement Surcharge — Iowa Code Section 911.4 Under current law, if a county has adopted a resolution pursuant to Iowa Code section 331.301(16), and a court imposes a fine or forfeiture for any simple misdemeanor punishable as a scheduled violation pursuant to a citation issued by a sheriff, the court shall assess a surcharge in the amount of $5 for each applicable violation in addition to any fine, forfeiture, or other surcharge. The surcharge revenue is deposited in the county general fund of the county where the citation was issued.

Juvenile Detention Home Fund

Under current law, civil penalties assessed and collected by the Department of Transportation (DOT) under Iowa Code sections 321.218A and 321A.32A are deposited into the Juvenile Detention Home Fund. The purpose of the fund is to provide State assistance to juvenile detention homes for reimbursement of operation expenses. The Department of Human Services has the authority to then allocate these collected funds to State juvenile detention homes.

City and County Fine Distribution

Under current law, the clerk of the district court must remit 90.0% of all fines and forfeited bail to the city that was the plaintiff in any action, and the remaining 10.0% is submitted to the State Court Administrator and deposited in the State General Fund.

Under current law, the clerk of the district court must remit all fines and forfeited bail for violation of a county ordinance, except an ordinance relating to vehicle speed or weight restrictions, to the county treasurer of the county that was the plaintiff in the action. However, if a county ordinance provides a penalty for a violation which is also penalized under State law, the fines and forfeited bail collected for the violation are remitted to the State.

Emergency Medical Services Fund

The Emergency Medical Services Fund is established in Iowa Code section 135.25 and is under the control of the Department of Public Health. Currently, the Fund may receive amounts appropriated by the General Assembly and other moneys available from federal or private sources. The purpose of the Fund is to assist counties by matching, on a dollar-for-dollar basis, moneys spent by a county for the acquisition of equipment for the provision of emergency medical services and by providing grants to counties for education and training in the delivery of emergency medical services.

Assumptions

• The following collection rates from FY 2019 will remain consistent in future fiscal years:
• Criminal Penalty Surcharge — 42.4%
• Municipal infractions — 39.0%
• Simple misdemeanors — 28.9%
• Serious misdemeanors — 21.7%
• Aggravated misdemeanors — 14.7%
• Felonies — 16.2%
• Deposits to the Victim Compensation Fund will increase by 16.0%.
• A 9.0% increase in fines assessed for misdemeanors and felonies is revenue-neutral to collections to the General Fund from the Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge under current law.
• A 28.0% increase in fines under the provisions of this Bill is revenue-neutral to the General Fund fine and surcharge revenue under current law. An additional fine increase of $5 would be revenue-neutral for the court costs reduction.
• Eighty percent of collected fines are scheduled fines.
• In FY 2019, $15.6 million of the Criminal Penalty Surcharge collections was distributed to the State. In FY 2018, $15.9 million of the Criminal Penalty Surcharge collections was distributed to the State. The Criminal Penalty Surcharge collection levels will remain consistent in subsequent years.
• The average collections and assessments from the following fines and surcharges in FY 2018 and FY 2019 will remain consistent in subsequent years:
• Iowa Code Section 911.2B Surcharge (Domestic Abuse): An average of $288,000 was assessed each fiscal year. The average number of assessments each fiscal year was 2,858.
• Iowa Code Section 911.2C Surcharge (Domestic Abuse): An average of $42,000 was assessed each fiscal year. The average number of assessments each fiscal year was 846.
• Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge: An average of $4.1 million was assessed and an average of $2.5 million was collected each year.
• Scheduled and Nonscheduled Fines: An average of $83.9 million was assessed and an average of $68.5 million was collected each year.
• DARE Surcharge: An average of $138,000 was collected each year.
• The following FY 2019 revenues will remain consistent in future fiscal years:
• Juvenile Home Detention Fund — $4.1 million was collected and deposited into the Juvenile Detention Home Fund revenue from civil penalties under Iowa Code sections 321.218A and 321A.32A.
• City Revenue — Cities collected a total of $113,000 from the Criminal Penalty Surcharge and $5.9 million in revenue from city fines/infractions and forfeited bail.
• County Revenue — Counties collected a total of $326,000 from the County Enforcement Surcharge and $726,000 from the Criminal Penalty Surcharge.

Fiscal Impact — Division I Crime Services Surcharge and Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge Division I is estimated to be revenue-neutral to the State General Fund. The increase in fine amounts and the new percentage distribution under Division I of this Bill are estimated to generate:

• $430,000 in additional revenue to the Victim Compensation Fund.
• $2.0 million in additional revenue to the Criminalistics Laboratory Fund.
• $400,000 in additional revenue to the Juvenile Detention Home Fund.
• $190,000 in collections to the DARE Fund, which is a $50,000 increase compared to the current DARE Program funding generated by the DARE Surcharge and appropriated to the ODCP.

Under current law, the General Fund portion of the Criminal Penalty Surcharge distribution is approximately 28.0% of the fine. Under Division IV, the scheduled fines are increased by approximately 33.0%, replacing the revenue from the Criminal Penalty Surcharge as well as the $5 reduction in court costs in Division I. Due to this increase, the collections to the General Fund are estimated to remain revenue-neutral. Under Division V, the misdemeanor and felony fines are increased by approximately 37.0%. This is equal to both the General Fund portion of the Criminal Penalty Surcharge and the General Fund revenue from the Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge under current law.

It is important to note that the increase in fine amounts may also result in additional revenue to the State General Fund from deferred judgments. When a defendant accepts a deferred judgment, the criminal fine is converted to a civil penalty. Typically, the civil penalty is the minimum amount of the fine and the defendant is not assessed the applicable surcharges. For information on the distribution of the proposed fine amounts under the Crime Services Surcharge, see Attachments A and C to this document. Attachments B and D show the distribution under current law.

Domestic Abuse Surcharges

Division I is estimated to be revenue-neutral to the Address Confidentiality Revolving Fund based on the total average amount assessed and collected from the Iowa Code sections 911.2B and 911.2C surcharges.

Agricultural Property Offense Surcharge

The fiscal impact of the Agricultural Property Offense Surcharge cannot be estimated based on current figures because the criminal code does not currently differentiate between theft and agricultural theft. Based on the collection rates for felonies and aggravated misdemeanors, it is estimated that the Iowa Emergency Food Purchase Program Fund would receive approximately 15.5% of the amount assessed from the Agricultural Property Offense Surcharge. County and City Fine Revenue Distribution Formulas Under the new distributions in this Division, cities and counties are estimated to receive the following increases in new fine revenue:

• Cities — $670,000. Under the new distributions, the cities are estimated to receive an increase of $770,000 in fine revenue. After accounting for the $100,000 of lost revenue to cities from the Criminal Penalty Surcharge repealed under this amendment, the cities are estimated to receive $670,000 in new funds.
• Counties — $8.5 million. This represents an additional $7.4 million in revenue for counties after accounting for the lost revenue from the repeal of the County Enforcement Surcharge and the Criminal Penalty Surcharge. In addition to the new revenue to the counties, an increase in court debt collections by county attorneys may also occur as a result of the fine increases.
• State — Revenue-neutral. The increased fines will allow the State to maintain its revenue from scheduled fines and the funding previously generated from the Criminal Penalty Surcharge and the Law Enforcement Initiative Surcharge.

Emergency Medical Services Fund

The Fund is estimated to receive additional annual revenue of $1.1 million under the new fine distribution formula. In FY 2019, the Fund had receipts totaling $405,000. Divisions II and III — Court Funds and Civil Fees

Description

Divisions II and III make the following changes to court funds:

• Repeals the Enhanced Court Collections Fund established in Iowa Code section 602.1304(2) and transfers the $4.0 million allocation to the Court Technology and Modernization Fund.
• Increases the allowable allocation to the Court Technology and Modernization Fund established in Iowa Code section 602.8108 from $1.0 million to $7.0 million, which includes the transfer from the Enhanced Court Collections Fund.
• Amends Iowa Code sections 602.8105 and 631.6 to increase fees in civil cases by $10.
• Eliminates the filing fee for an adoption under Iowa Code section 602.8105(1).
• Repeals the filing fee for entering a final decree of dissolution of marriage under Iowa Code section 602.8105(d) and combines this filing with the filing fee for the dissolution of marriage.

Background

Court Technology and Modernization Fund — Iowa Code Section 602.8108(9) Of the fines and fees collected by the Judicial Branch, prior to their deposit in the General Fund, the State Court Administrator is permitted to annually allocate $1.0 million to the Court Technology and Modernization Fund. The Fund is used to enhance the ability of the Judicial Branch to process cases quickly and efficiently; to electronically transmit information to State government, local governments, law enforcement agencies, and the public; and to improve public access to the court system.

Enhanced Court Collections Fund — Iowa Code Section 602.1304 Currently, a maximum of $4.0 million per year generated from fines, fees, civil penalties, costs, surcharges, and other revenues collected by the Judicial Branch is permitted to be deposited into the Enhanced Court Collections Fund. Refer to the LSA Budget Unit Brief Enhanced Court Collections Fund for further information.

Assumptions

• In FY 2019, approximately $15.0 million was assessed in civil fees outlined in Division III. The amount of civil fees assessed will remain consistent in future fiscal years.
• On average, 100.0% of civil fees assessed are collected.

Fiscal Impact — Divisions II and III Division III is estimated to increase civil fee revenue by approximately $2.3 million. Of this estimated increase in revenue, $2.0 million would be deposited in the Court Technology and Modernization Fund and the remaining $300,000 in the State General Fund. The repeal of the adoption fee under Iowa Code section 602.8105(1)(e) is estimated to have a minimal fiscal impact. The average annual number of adoption filings is 1,500, with an annual collection of approximately $150,000. The overall increase in filing fees would maintain the existing revenue from this fee.

The repeal of the final decree of dissolution of marriage filing fee under Iowa Code section 602.8105(1)(d) is not estimated to have a fiscal impact. In FY 2019, there were 9,429 final decree of dissolution of marriage filings. Under the Division, this filing fee is combined with the dissolution of marriage fee for a total of $265. The 20.0% allocation from the dissolution of marriage filing fee, intended for sexual assault and domestic violence centers, would increase revenue for this purpose by approximately $25,000.

Divisions IV and V — Scheduled Violations and Misdemeanor and Felony Fines

Description

Divisions IV and V make the following changes:

• Reclassify some simple misdemeanors to be punishable as scheduled violations.
• Raise nearly all of the fines for simple misdemeanors punishable as scheduled violations in Iowa Code sections 805.8A (Motor vehicle and transportation), 805.8B (Navigation, recreation, hunting, and fishing), and 805.8C (Miscellaneous) by approximately 28.0%, plus $5 due to the decrease in court costs from $60 to $55.
• Raises the minimum and maximum criminal fines for misdemeanors and felonies by approximately 37.0%.

For information on the proposed fine amounts and the fine distribution under the proposed Crime Services Surcharge, see the attachments to this document.

Assumptions

• The following will not change over the projection period: charge, conviction, and sentencing patterns and trends; prisoner length of stay; revocation rates; plea bargaining; and other criminal justice system policies and practices.
• A lag effect of six months is assumed from the effective date of this Bill to the date of first entry of affected offenders into the correctional system.
• Marginal costs for county jails cannot be estimated due to a lack of data. For purposes of this analysis, the marginal cost for county jails is assumed to be $50 per day.

Correctional Impact

The fine increases in Divisions IV and V are not estimated to have a correctional impact. Increasing the fines is not estimated to result in additional convictions of scheduled violations, misdemeanors, or felonies. Refer to the Legislative Services Agency (LSA) memo addressed to the General Assembly, Cost Estimates Used for Correctional Impact Statements, dated January 16, 2020, for information related to the correctional system.

Minority Impact

Division IV reclassifies some simple misdemeanors to be punishable as scheduled violations and raises the fines. Table 1 provides the demographics of scheduled violation convictions in