House Bill Summary

HB 482 - This act allows municipal courts to create a fund to be used to pay for appointing attorneys for certain indigent defendants. The fund shall only be used to pay court-approved reasonable fees for attorneys for indigent defendants who cannot pay for legal representation and are required to have appointed counsel by supreme court rules or the law. The money for this fund will come from the one dollar fee collected on each case that currently goes to the judicial education fund. The municipal court will decide how to allocate the dollar fee between the judicial education fund and the appointed counsel fund. The municipal court may not retain more than five thousand dollars in the appointed counsel fund.

EMILY KALMER