The House Judiciary Committee clears a slate of criminal justice bills before heading into a two-week recess for state budget-writing markup.
House Bill 133 would allow certain fees and fines to be waived for defendants without the means to pay them.
In addition to the collection of fines for committing an offense in Delaware, the state has various fees it imposes on defendants like the Court Security fee, Victim’s Rights fee, Voluntary Ambulance Fund fee and several more.
State Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall (D-Rehoboth Beach) introduced legislation that would give courts the discretion to waive fines and fees largely for individuals on social welfare programs like Medicaid, SNAP and TANF.
While she argues creating a hardship waiver instills more equity in the justice system for low-income individuals, several representatives brought up concerns for how the state would cover the cost of replacing the lost revenue.
The bill’s fiscal impact is officially undeterminable due to the uncertainty of how many criminal defendants would be eligible, but the Office of the Controller General estimates around 40% of collections would qualify, which was $6 million for fiscal year 24.
Although, Chief of Fiscal Policy with the Controller General’s Office Jason Smith notes the state hasn’t historically been successful in collecting these fees from low-income defendants.
“Our understanding was that the judiciary was not able to collect a lot of these anyway, and this was a mechanism for them to be able to address that," he said.
The other 60% of fees are collected through the Voluntary Assessment Center, which handles traffic violations. These types of fees would not be waived under this bill.
Rep. Snyder-Hall explains a 2023 analysis found that over one-third of fees and fines in Delaware cases did not receive any payments, and $40 million in uncollectible fees and fines’ debt has been written off since 2021.
"Essential public services should be paid for by the General Fund, not by nickel-and-diming people who are struggling financially. Particularly at a time when government programs are being cut," Rep. Snyder-Hall argues. "Police and firefighters are too important to be dependent on fees that are often not paid."
But House Bill 133 only gives discretion to the courts to waive these fees and fines, it does not mandate the state's General Fund cover the cost of the services funded in part or in whole by these fees and fines.
Rep. Snyder-Hall says she would be happy to work on a bill that would direct the General Fund to cover the cost of these services entirely in the future.
Currently, if fees and fines go unpaid, how the state handles covering these service and program costs varies.
"There are some agencies where they can only spend what's actually collected. So if it's not a collected fee, the revenue is not there to support it. I know in instance for other fees that may be tied to positions from a budgetary standpoint, the Joint Finance Committee makes decisions about either appropriating other funds or transferring other funds through the budget process to make those determinations," Smith said.
Delaware State Police’s Legislative Liaison Sgt. Mike Ripple requested the bill be tabled until an appropriate fiscal note can be determined.
"We're being asked to actually pass the bill without deciding how we're going to fund it, and then later on come up with that," Sgt. Ripple said.
Rep. Snyder-Hall clarifies she plans to attach an amendment to the bill that would ensure the Victims’ Compensation Assistance Program (VCAP), which provides financial compensation for victims who faced losses related to specific offenses, would not be affected by this bill.
The bill was ultimately voted out of committee and heads to the House floor.
The House Judiciary Committee also advanced a bill that would make it a felony to discharge a firearm into a dwelling, place of worship, vehicle or place of business.
Deputy Attorney General John Taylor explains this would create the appropriate felony charge for such cases, which currently do not exist under Delaware Code.
“There's presently not a felony charge for instances where homes are shot at, but a person was not directly or very closely in the line of fire," Taylor said.
The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha (D-Wilmington), explains cases like these are currently classified as property damage or criminal mischief.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee largely voiced support for the bill, although some feel a felony is too high a classification for the crime and also raised concerns of charge stacking.
State Rep. Bill Bush (D-Dover) requested schools, EMS facilities and police stations be added to the legislation, which Chukwuocha said he would support.
The legislation awaits consideration by the full House.
The committee also cleared two bills in Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) 4-bill civil liberties package that would ban citizen's arrests in Delaware.
