HB 244 DE

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Became Law

Recognizing the negative impact of criminal justice imposed financial obligations on defendants has led to reforms across the country to reduce the financial burdens that disproportionally impact the poor. This type of debt and the collateral consequences of suspending a driver’s license negatively impacts the rehabilitation of those in the criminal justice system and pushes those without an ability to pay further into the system unnecessarily. This Act does all of the following: (1) Prohibits a court from imposing a fine, fee, cost, or assessment on children without the means to pay them. (2) Provides the courts with the discretion to waive, modify, or suspend any fine, fee, cost, or assessment. (3) Prohibits a court or the Department of Transportation from suspending a driver’s license for nonpayment of a fine, fee cost, assessment, or restitution and from charging a penalty, assessment, or fee to a defendant for the cancellation of a warrant issued due to the defendant’s nonpayment of a fine, fee, cost, assessment, or restitution. (4) Prohibits a court from imposing an additional fee on a defendant for payments that are made at designated periodic intervals or late, or when probation is ordered to supervise a defendant’s payment. Nothing in this Act precludes the court from filing contempt charges against defendants who willfully fail to pay their fines. (5) Requires the Judiciary and the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System to report on the sum collected from fines, fees, costs, assessments, and restitution and make a public report of these totals. (6) Eliminates the Public Defender fee and the Probation Supervision fee. The collections from these fees currently go to the General Fund. (7) Creates the Criminal Legal System Imposed Debt Study Group to review the impact that court imposed financial obligations have on defendants and victims and make recommendations to promote access, fairness, and transparency in the imposition and collection of court imposed financial obligations. (8) Makes technical corrections to conform existing law to the standards of the Delaware Legislative Drafting Manual.

• Sean M. Lynn Democratic · primary
• Darius J. Brown Democratic · primary
• Valerie Longhurst · primary
• Sherry Dorsey Walker · primary
• Melissa Minor-Brown Democratic · primary
• Sherae'a Moore Democratic · primary

1. Jun 10, 2021 Introduced and Assigned to Judiciary Committee in House · lower
2. Jun 15, 2021 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in House with 8 On Its Merits · lower
3. Jun 17, 2021 Assigned to Appropriations Committee in House · lower
4. Jun 23, 2021 Amendment HA 1 to HB 244 - Introduced and Placed With Bill · lower
5. Apr 13, 2022 Reported Out of Committee (Appropriations) in House with 2 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits · lower
6. May 3, 2022 Amendment HA 2 to HB 244 - Introduced and Placed With Bill · lower
7. May 3, 2022 Amendment HA 1 to HB 244 - Stricken in House · lower
8. May 3, 2022 Amendment HA 2 to HB 244 - Passed In House by Voice Vote · lower
9. May 3, 2022 Passed By House. Votes: 31 YES 9 NO 1 ABSENT · lower
10. May 3, 2022 Assigned to Judiciary Committee in Senate · upper
11. Jun 15, 2022 Reported Out of Committee (Judiciary) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 2 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable · upper
12. Jun 15, 2022 Assigned to Finance Committee in Senate · upper
13. Jun 21, 2022 Reported Out of Committee (Finance) in Senate with 1 Favorable, 3 On Its Merits · upper
14. Jun 30, 2022 Passed By Senate. Votes: 15 YES 6 NO · upper
15. Oct 3, 2022 Signed by Governor · executive