Plain English Breakdown
The source text states the bill 'would' make changes and has passed the legislature, but does not confirm if it is currently law or when it takes effect.
AB 2428: Changes to Criminal Justice Fees
This law removes the authority for courts and agencies to collect many criminal justice fees, cancels unpaid balances on those costs, and changes rules about paying court debts with personal checks.
What This Bill Does
- Repeals the authority to collect various fees tied to a criminal arrest, prosecution, or conviction.
- Makes most unpaid court-imposed costs unenforceable and requires courts to cancel (vacate) those parts of a judgment.
- Removes the requirement for people in state prison or county jail to pay trial court filing fees related to their underlying criminal conviction.
- Allows public entities to accept personal checks as payment for criminal court debts without meeting previous conditions.
- Prohibits agencies from charging extra fees when a check used to pay criminal debt is returned.
Who It Names or Affects
- People who have been arrested, prosecuted, or convicted of crimes.
- Minors adjudged as wards of the court.
- Individuals sentenced to state prison or confined in county jail.
- State and local agencies that collect criminal justice fees.
Terms To Know
- Repeal
- To officially cancel a law so it no longer exists.
- Vacated judgment
- A court order that cancels or wipes out part of a previous decision, such as removing an unpaid fee from a person's record.
- Ward of the court
- A minor child who is under the legal protection and supervision of a judge instead of their parents.
Limits and Unknowns
- The text does not list every specific fee that will be removed, only stating it covers 'many' fees.
- The official effective date for when these changes begin is not provided in the source material.
- The bill mentions making various conforming changes but does not detail what those other adjustments are.