Missouri Senate

Senate Committee Substitute

RELEASING INFORMATION:

First, the act repeals the requirement that a member of the judiciary must notify the Department of Revenue when the member's status changes and the member no longer qualifies for the exemption from the release of certain information.

CRIMINAL RECORDS AND JUSTICE INFORMATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE:

Within the Department of Public Safety there is a Criminal Records and Justice Information Advisory Committee, which is composed of various members. This act replaces the chairman of the circuit court budget as a member of the committee with the chairman of the court automation committee.

GARNISHMENTS:

The act also modifies provisions relating to garnishments. The act specifies an order for the application of garnishment payments, and states that judgments shall accrue interest on the judgment balance. Under the act, clerks of circuit courts are authorized to collect a surcharge up to ten dollars when processing garnishments.

The act provides that the garnishor is responsible for obtaining service upon the garnishee of the summons, application and order of execution or garnishment. Currently, a garnishment summons is served by the sheriff or other designated authority upon the garnishee. This act provides that the garnishor may obtain service by certified mail. The act also states that within five days of service upon the garnishee, the garnishor must provide the judgment debtor a copy of the summons and writ.

The act adds language which provides that notice of garnishment shall have the effect of attaching all personal property at the time of service or in the case of a continuous wage garnishment, until the judgment is paid in full, or until the employment relationship is terminated.

The act states that garnishments which would otherwise have equal priority shall have priority according to the date of service, and when wages have been attached by more than one writ of garnishment then the employer must inform the inferior garnishor of the other garnishments.

When applicable, a garnishee may discharge himself by paying the money or giving the property owed to the defendant to the attorney for the party on whose behalf the order of garnishment was issued. Additionally, the court may order the delivery of the defendant's property possessed by the garnishee to the attorney for the party on whose behalf the order of garnishment was issued.

The act allows the garnishee to deduct up to twenty dollars, or a fee previously agreed upon between the garnishee and judgment debtor when the garnishee is a financial institution, for expenses in answering interrogatories and withholding the funds. The garnishee may also file a motion with the court to obtain additional costs incurred in answering the interrogatories.

The act modifies provisions relating to the issuance of a writ of sequestration. Under current law, the wages of state government employees are not subject to direct garnishment, and instead must be collected under a process called sequestration. This act provides that sovereign immunity shall be waived for the purposes of garnishing the pay of employees who work for the state or a political subdivision, and that the government employer shall have the same duties as a private employer when served with a garnishment order. The act repeals language requiring a writ of sequestration when the judgment debtor is a government employee, and provides that all garnishments against such employees shall proceed in the same manner as any other garnishment proceedings.

SEGREGATION OF FEES COLLECTED BY THE OFFICE OF STATE COURTS ADMINISTRATOR:

The act specifies that moneys collected for a particular purpose by the Office of State Courts Administrator shall be segregated and not disbursed for any other purpose.

JUDICIAL POSITIONS:

The act states that the Supreme Court shall submit a judicial weighted workload model and a clerical weighted workload model annually to the chairs of both the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees, to be distributed to the members of the General Assembly.

Also, when a judicial weighted workload indicates for three consecutive years that a judicial circuit with a population of one-hundred thousand or more is in need of four or more full-time judicial positions, then there shall be one additional associate circuit judge position in such circuit. In circuits composed of multiple counties, the additional associate circuit judge position shall be apportioned among the counties based on population.

REIMBURSEMENT OF FAMILY COURT COMMISSIONERS:

Currently, the state must be reimbursed for the salaries of family court commissioners appointed after August 28, 1993. There is an exception for the eleventh judicial circuit which allows one family court commissioner to be compensated by the state without requiring reimbursement. The state-paid commissioner is subject to appropriation. This act creates a similar exception for the thirty-first judicial circuit.

This act also modifies provisions which allow Jackson County to charge up to a twenty dollar surcharge when a party files a civil court case. Currently, only Jackson County can charge twenty dollars, and all other circuits may charge up to fifteen dollars. This act authorizes any circuit court that reimburses the state for the salaries of family court commissioners to charge up to a twenty dollar surcharge for such cases.

COURT TRANSCRIPTS COSTS:

The act specifies that the court reporter shall receive three dollars and fifty cents per page for appeal transcripts. When the defendant is indigent or when a judge orders a transcript, the court reporter shall receive two dollars and sixty cents per page.

MODEX FUND:

Currently, sheriffs, county marshals and other officers are not allowed to charge for their services rendered in cases disposed of by a violations bureau. This act allows these officials to charge six dollars for their services, even when a case is disposed of by a violations bureau. One-half of the amount collected will be deposited in the MODEX fund. The other half will be deposited in the inmate security fund of the county or municipality where the citation originated. If the county or municipality does not have an inmate security fund, all of the amount collected shall be deposited in the MODEX fund.

This act also creates the MODEX fund. The fund will be used for the support and expansion of the Missouri Data Exchange (MODEX) system. The Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission will administer the fund.

The act specifies that sheriffs, county marshals or other officers located in St. Louis County or St. Louis City cannot charge for their services rendered in cases disposed of by a violations bureau.

BANKRUPTCY PROCEEDINGS EXEMPTIONS:

Under current law a person, either as a participant or a beneficiary, can exempt from attachment in bankruptcy proceedings the right to receive money from a retirement or profit-sharing plan. This act includes a person's interest in health savings plans and inherited accounts to this list of exemptions.

WAIVER OF COURT COSTS:

Currently when a legal aid society, legal services, or a nonprofit organization represents an indigent party in a civil case, the court costs and expenses are waived without motion and court approval, provided that the organization has already determined the party is unable to pay the expenses and filed the determination with the court. This act adds law school clinics to the list of organizations who may waive court expenses without filing a motion with the court.

COST OF ELECTRONIC MONITORING:

Under current law, a judge may release a person charged with a crime pending trial and place the person on house arrest with electronic monitoring if the person can afford the costs of the monitoring. A judge can also order that a person convicted of a crime and placed on probation be placed on house arrest with electronic monitoring if the person can afford the costs of monitoring. This act provides that in both scenarios a person may be placed on electronic monitoring if the person can afford the costs or the county commission agrees to pay the costs of the monitoring from its general revenue.

DEPOSITION TRANSCRIPTS:

The act provides that a party who takes a deposition in a criminal case is responsible for the costs of providing one copy of the deposition transcript to the opposing party.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS 120-DAY PROGRAM:

Under current law, a court must place certain defendants who have violated the terms of probation in one of the Department of Corrections' 120-day programs before revoking probation. This act provides that a court may revoke a defendant's probation without placing the defendant in a 120-day program if the defendant consents to the revocation. The act repeals a provision of current law requiring a circuit court to release an offender who participates in a 120-day Department of Corrections program unless the release constitutes an abuse of discretion.

This act leaves in place provisions of current law that require the court to follow the recommendation of the Department regarding the release of an offender who participates in a 120-day program unless the court determines probation is not appropriate.

The act provides that the offender's sentence may only be executed after conducting a hearing on the matter within 90 to 120 days from the date the offender was delivered to the Department of Corrections rather than within 90 to 120 days from the date the offender was sentenced.

Current law provides that the Department of Corrections must provide a report and recommendations for terms and conditions of probation to the court after 100 days of incarceration if the department determines that an offender is not successful in a program. The court must then release the offender on probation or order the offender to remain incarcerated to serve the sentence imposed. This act provides that if the department determines the offender has not successfully completed a 120-day program, the offender must be removed from the program and the court advised of the removal. The department may provide recommendations for terms and conditions of probation. The court then has the power to grant probation or order execution of the offender's sentence.

This act provides that the court must consider other authorized dispositions if the court is advised that an offender is not eligible for placement in a 120-day program.

Under the act, the department must provide a report and sentencing recommendation to the court when an offender completes a sexual offender assessment. This act also specifies that a sexual offender assessment shall not be considered a 120-day program and identifies the provisions containing the process for granting probation to an offender who has completed the sexual offender assessment. The act repeals a provision requiring the court to request certain offenders be placed in the sexual offender assessment unit of the Department of Corrections.

Current law provides that an offender's first incarceration for 120 days in a Department of Corrections program prior to release on probation shall not be considered a previous prison commitment for purposes of sentencing for subsequent crimes. This act provides that an offender's first incarceration prior to release on probation - even if the offender does not participate in a 120-day program - shall not be considered a previous prison commitment.

MONITORING OF SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATORS:

The act modifies the list of persons who shall be served with the petition for conditional release of a sexually violent predator to include the prosecuting attorney of the jurisdiction where the person is to be released.

When a person designated as a sexually violent predator is electronically monitored while on conditional release, the Department of Corrections must provide, upon request, the chief of the law enforcement agency for the county or city where the facility that released the offender is located with access to the real-time and recorded information collected by the electronic monitoring, including any alerts generated by the technology. The access must continue while the person is living in the county, city, town, or village where the facility that released the offender is located. The electronic information must be closed and not disclosed to anyone outside of the law enforcement agency, except upon an order of the court supervising the conditional release.

Provisions of this act are similar to provisions in HCS/SB 188 (2013); SB 327 (2013); SCS/SB 462 (2013); SCS/SB 380 (2013); SB 245 (2013); SCS/SB 45 (2013); SB 52 (2013); HCS/HB 169 (2013); SB 100 (2013); HB 213 (2013); HCS/HB 215 (2013); HCS/HB 371 (2013); and HB 323 (2013).

JESSICA BAKER