To repeal section 59.319, RSMo 1994, relating to recording fees applicable to the Missouri Housing Trust Fund, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to the same subject.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI, AS FOLLOWS:

     Section A. Section 59.319, RSMo 1994, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as 59.319, to read as follows:

     59.319. 1. A user fee of four dollars shall be charged and collected by every recorder in this state, over and above any other fees required by law, as a condition precedent to the recording of any instrument. The state portion of the fee shall be forwarded monthly by each recorder of deeds to the state director of revenue, and the fees so forwarded shall be deposited by the director in the state treasury. Two dollars of such fee shall be retained by the recorder and deposited in a recorder's fund and not in county general revenue for record storage, microfilming, and preservation, including anything necessarily pertaining thereto. The recorder's funds shall be kept in a special fund by the treasurer and shall be budgeted and expended at the direction of the recorder and shall not be used to substitute for or subsidize any allocation of general revenue for the operation of the recorder's office without the express consent of the recorder. The recorder's fund may be audited by the appropriate auditing agency, and any unexpended balance shall be left in the fund to accumulate from year to year with interest.

     2. An additional fee of three dollars shall be charged and collected by every recorder in this state, over and above any other fees required by law, as a condition precedent to the recording of any [instruments specified in subdivisions (1) and (2) of section 59.330] instrument. The fees collected from this additional three dollars per recorded instrument shall be forwarded monthly by each recorder of deeds to the state director of revenue, and the fees so forwarded shall be deposited by the director in the state treasury.

      3. The state treasurer and the commissioner of administration shall establish an appropriate account within the state treasury and in accordance with the state's accounting methods. Any receipt required by this section to be deposited in the general revenue fund shall be credited as follows: the amount of one dollar for each fee collected under subsection 1 of this section to an account to be utilized for the purposes of sections 60.500 to 60.610, RSMo; the amount of one dollar for each fee collected under subsection 1 of this section to an account to be utilized by the secretary of state for additional preservation of local records; and the amount of three dollars collected under subsection 2 of this section into the Missouri housing trust fund as designated in section 215.035, RSMo.