Legal counsel Taylor Hanford (left) and chief legal counsel Mark Whitmore (right) of the Arkansas Association of Counties discuss potential changes to the funding of Arkansas’ court system with the Joint Judiciary Committee on Monday, September 9, 2024. (Screenshot/Arkansas Legislature)
A panel of Arkansas lawmakers agreed Monday to recommend legislation next year that would eliminate the $10 monthly fee that comes with paying off court-ordered fines and fees, such as traffic tickets, on an installment plan.
The fee results in lower-income people paying a higher cumulative amount than people who can afford to pay up front, and members of both parties said this is unfair at Monday’s Joint Judiciary Committee meeting .
“In a perfect world in which we had all the money in the world, we wouldn’t be funding the court system off the backs of people who often cannot afford to pay,” said Rep. Carol Dalby, R-Texarkana, the House Judiciary Committee chair.
One-fourth of the fee revenue supports local district courts’ automated record-keeping system, one-fourth supports the same thing at the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts and the remaining half goes into the state’s Administration of Justice (AOJ) fund, Dalby said.