Legislative Council Staff
Nonpartisan Services for Colorado’s Legislature
Legislative Council Staff ∙ 200 E. Colfax Ave, Room 029 ∙ Denver CO 80203
Fiscal Note
Memorandum
March 22, 2024
TO: Members of the House Finance Committee
FROM: John Armstrong, Fiscal Analyst
john.armstrong@coleg.gov | (303-866-6289)
SUBJECT: Fiscal Assessment of Proposed Amendment House Bill 24-1286_L.004
This memorandum is an assessment of the fiscal impact of the attached proposed amendment
L.004 to HB 24-1286. This fiscal assessment is for the impact of the bill with inclusion of this
amendment only. Any other added amendment could influence the fiscal impact.
Summary of Proposed Amendment
Amendment L.004 removes all references to the Equal Justice Fund and replaces those
references with an Equal Justice Fee, which is collected by the Judicial Department on civil and
appeals cases beginning January 1, 2025, on behalf of the Equal Justice Authority, a special
purpose authority. Persons whose income is below 250 percent of the federal poverty line are
exempt from paying the $20 Equal Justice Fee. The fee will be used by the authority to provide
access to legal representation for indigent defendants and to cover its costs.
Fiscal Impact of Amendment
Amendment L.004 removes the state revenue, state expenditure, and TABOR impact identified in
the fiscal note dated March 1, 2024, by clarifying that the fee is collected on behalf of a special
purpose authority instead of the state.
Bill’s Revised Fiscal Impact with Amendment
With Amendment L.004, the bill creates a fee impact, a minimal state workload impact, and
increases revenue and expenditures in a special purpose authority.
Docket fee impact. Colorado law requires legislative service agency review of measures which
create or increase any fee collected by a state agency. In this case, the fee is collected by the
Judicial Department on behalf of the Equal Justice Authority. Fee amounts are outlined in the
bill, resulting in an increase of $20 for various docket fees, as shown in Table 1 below.
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Table 1
Docket Fee Impact
Year Type of Case Number of Cases Fee Revenue
FY 2024-25 County Civil 27,288 $20 $545,760
District Civil
17,848 $20 $356,960
Court of Appeals 251 $20 $5,020
Probate 8,474 $20 $169,480
FY 2024-25 Equal Justice Fee Revenue $1,077,220
FY 2025-26 County Civil 54,577 $20 $1,091,540
District Civil 35,695 $20 $713,900
Court of Appeals 502 $20 $10,040
Probate 16,947 $20 $338,940
FY 2025-26 Equal Justice Fee Revenue $2,154,420
Judicial Department. The Judicial Department will update their information technology systems
to create a new financial code for the new Equal Justice Fee. This additional workload is assumed
to be minimal and can be accomplished within existing appropriations.
Equal Justice Authority. The newly created EJA will provide funding for legal aid to indigent
offenders using the revenue generated from the new docket fee, estimated at $1.1 million in
FY 2024-25 and up to $2.2 million in FY 2025-26 and ongoing. This revenue will also cover the
EJA’s administrative costs, which will be spent to convene commission members, and to
distribute and report on funding.