2019 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE BILL NO. 77
BY SENATORS TARVER AND MARTI NY
Prefiled pursuant to Article III, Section 2(A)(4)(b)(i) of the Constitution of Louisiana.
1 AN ACT
2 To amend and reenact 13:2562.22, relative to judicial expense funds; to provide relative to
3 the judicial expense funds for the First and Second Parish Courts of Jefferson Parish;
4 to provide relative to administration, procedures, and disbursements of funds; to
5 provide relative to audits of the judicial expense fund; to provide relative to salaries
6 paid out of the judicial expense fund; to provide terms and conditions; and to provide
7 for related matters.
8 Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. R.S. 13:2562.22 is hereby amended and reenacted to read as follows:
10 ยง2562.22. Judicial expense fund; traffic case management and accident reporting
11 system
12 A. In all criminal cases over which the First and Second Parish Courts of
13 Jefferson Parish have jurisdiction, there shall be taxed as costs against every
14 defendant who is convicted after trial or after plea of guilty or who forfeits his bond,
15 a sum likewise determined but which shall not exceed fifteen dollars, which shall be
16 in addition to all other fines, costs, or forfeitures lawfully imposed, and which shall
17 be transmitted to the said clerk for further disposition in accordance herewith.
18 B. All sums collected or received under this Section shall be placed in a
19 separate account, to be respectively in one of two separate accounts designated
20 as the Judicial Expense Fund for the First Parish Court of Jefferson Parish and the
21 Judicial Expense Fund for the Second Parish Courts Court of Jefferson Parish. All
22 sums shall be placed in the judicial expense fund associated with the court in
23 which the case was pending or adjudicated according to each court's
24 jurisdiction. The judges, en banc, of the courts each separate parish court shall
25 have control over the fund funds associated with their jurisdiction and all
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1 disbursements made therefrom. They The judges shall cause to be conducted
2 annually an audit of the fund funds and the books and accounts relating thereto, and
3 shall file the same with the office of the legislative auditor where it the audits shall
4 be available for public inspection.
5 C. The judges, en banc, of each separate parish court shall determine
6 how the judicial expense funds are administered and maintained within their
7 jurisdiction, and where the judicial expense funds are kept including but not
8 limited to authorizing by cooperative endeavor agreement or otherwise the
9 Finance Department of the Parish of Jefferson to administer and maintain the
10 judicial expense funds in an account with other parish funds. No firm,
11 corporation, association, political subdivision and officers, or other entity,
12 public or private, is authorized to access, disburse, invest the monies in either
13 fund, or to use the monies in either fund as security, unless expressly authorized
14 by the judges, acting en banc, of each separate parish court.
15 D. The judges, en banc, of the First and Second Parish Courts of Jefferson
16 Parish each separate parish court may, in addition to salaries otherwise provided,
17 authorized, or established by law, fix and pay each of their court reporters a salary
18 from the judicial expense fund funds. The judges, en banc, of each separate parish
19 court may appoint such secretarial, clerical, research, administrative, or other
20 personnel as they deem necessary to expedite the business and functions of the court
21 courts, and fix and pay all or any part of the salaries of such personnel out of the
22 monies in the judicial expense fund funds. In like manner, the judges, en banc, of
23 each separate parish court may utilize the monies in the judicial expense fund
24 funds within their respective jurisdiction to pay all or any part of the cost of
25 establishing and/or maintaining a law library for the court, or implementing and
26 operating a traffic case management and accident reporting system, or for buying
27 and/or maintaining any type of equipment, supplies, or other items consistent with
28 or germane to the efficient operation of the court. In general, the judicial expense
29 fund is funds are established and may be used for any purpose or purposes
30 connected with, incidental to, or related to the proper administration or function of
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1 the said each court or the offices of the individual judges; and, is in addition to any
2 and all other funds, salaries, expenses, and other monies that are now or hereafter
3 provided, authorized, or established by law for any of the aforesaid purposes.
4 D.E. No salary shall be paid from the judicial expense fund funds for the
5 parish courts to any of the judges of the courts except as may be paid for
6 administering the said fund funds, and then only after prior legislative approval.
7 Section 2. This Act shall become effective upon signature by the governor or, if not
8 signed by the governor, upon expiration of the time for bills to become law without signature
9 by the governor, as provided by Article III, Section 18 of the Constitution of Louisiana. If
10 vetoed by the governor and subsequently approved by the legislature, this Act shall become
11 effective on the day following such approval.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA
APPROVED:
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