HLS 16RS-1152 ENGROSSED
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 627
BY REPRESENTATIVE JACKSON
COURTS/MAYORS: Provides relative to court costs in Mayor's Courts
1 AN ACT
2To amend and reenact R.S. 33:441(A)(2) and (3) and Section 2 of Act No. 13 of the 2013
3 Regular Session of the Legislature and to enact R.S. 33:441(A)(4), relative to court
4 costs assessed by mayor's courts; to authorize an additional court cost to be assessed;
5 to provide that a portion of such costs shall support the local public defender's office;
6 to provide for effectiveness; and to provide for related matters.
7Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
8 Section 1. R.S. 33:441(A)(2) and (3) are hereby amended and reenacted and R.S.
933:441(A)(4) is hereby enacted to read as follows:
10 §441. Mayor's court
11 A.
12 * * *
13 (2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, the mayor
14 may impose additional court costs not to exceed twenty dollars for each offense, as
15 defined by ordinance or traffic violation, on any defendant convicted of a violation
16 of a municipal ordinance, provided that ten dollars of such additional court costs
17 collected shall be remitted to the local public defender's office.
18 (2)(3) The mayor may suspend the execution in whole or in part of a fine or
19 imprisonment, or both, imposed for violation of a municipal ordinance and place the
20 defendant on unsupervised or supervised probation with such conditions as the
21 mayor may fix and, at any time during the probation, modify, add, or discharge. The
22 probation shall be for a period as the mayor shall specify up to one year. The mayor
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HB NO. 627
1 may terminate or revoke the probation at any time. At the termination of the
2 probation, the mayor may set the conviction aside and dismiss the prosecution.
3 (3)(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, when a
4 defendant has been convicted of violation of a municipal ordinance, the mayor may
5 suspend the imposition or the execution of the whole or any part of the sentence and
6 place the defendant on unsupervised probation upon such conditions as the mayor
7 may fix. Such suspension of sentence and probation shall be for a period of six
8 months or such shorter period as the mayor may specify. But in no case shall the
9 probationary period imposed exceed the maximum penalty of imprisonment that may
10 be imposed for violation of a particular ordinance.
11 * * *
12 Section 2. Section 2 of Act No. 13 of the 2013 Regular Session of the Legislature
13is hereby amended to read as follows:
14 Section 2. R.S. 33:447.11 as enacted by this Act shall be null and void on
15 August 1, 2020 2016.
16 Section 3. This Act shall become effective upon signature by the governor or if not
17signed by the governor, upon expiration of the time for bills to become law without signature
18by the governor, as provided by Article III, Section 18 of the Constitution of Louisiana. If
19vetoed by the governor and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become
20effective on the day following such approval.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 627 Engrossed 2016 Regular Session Jackson
Abstract: Authorizes mayors to impose additional court costs not to exceed $20 for each
offense, as defined by ordinance, on any defendant convicted of a violation of a
municipal ordinance, provided that $10 of such court costs collected shall be
remitted to the local public defender's office.
Proposed law provides that mayors may impose additional court costs not to exceed $20 for
each offense, as defined by ordinance or traffic violation, on any defendant convicted of a
violation of a municipal ordinance.
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HB NO. 627
Proposed law requires that $10 of such additional court costs collected shall be remitted to
the local public defenders office.
Present law (R.S. 33:447.11) provides for the collection of additional court cost fees for
mayor's courts in DeQuincy, Iowa, Vinton and Westlake to be deposited in the 14th JDC's
Indigent Defenders Fund. Provides for a termination date of Aug. 1, 2016.
Proposed law extends this present law termination date to Aug. 1, 2020.
Effective upon signature of governor or lapse of time for gubernatorial action.
(Amends R.S. 33:441(A)(2) and (3) and §2 of Act No. 13 of the 2013 R.S.; Adds R.S.
33:441(A)(4))
Summary of Amendments Adopted by House
The Committee Amendments Proposed by House Committee on Judiciary to the original
bill:
1. Authorizes, instead of requiring, mayor's courts to impose additional court costs
not to exceed $20 for each defense defined by ordinance or traffic violation for
a municipal ordinance violation conviction.
2. Extends the effectiveness of a present law provision regarding the collection of
additional court costs for mayor's courts in certain municipalities (R.S.
33:447.11) from Aug. 1, 2016, to Aug. 1, 2020.
3. Adds an emergency effective date.
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
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