Lipke seeks clarification of court fees

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- State Rep. Scott Lipke is pushing legislation to ensure that traffic offenders don't get hit with an extra court fee intended to apply only to criminal defendants for the purpose of expanding Missouri's DNA database of convicted felons.

Lipke's bill would specify that traffic violations are exempt from a law enacted last year that assessed extra fees of $30 in felony cases and $15 in misdemeanor cases against defendants upon conviction. Lipke, R-Jackson, said some courts expressed confusion as to whether misdemeanors included traffic offenses.

"That wasn't the intent of the legislation," Lipke said.

Nancy Griggs, a spokeswoman for the Office of State Courts Administrator, said most statutes levying extra fees in criminal cases specifically state whether those fees apply to traffic violations. The DNA database fund law, however, is silent on the matter. Therefore, Griggs said, the law could be construed as requiring a $15 fee in traffic cases. OSCA supports Lipke's bill, which the House Judiciary Committee unanimously approved last week.

"This is just a clarification," Griggs said. "We felt the law was a little unclear."

Griggs said the DNA fee hasn't been assessed in traffic cases since the law took effect last August.

Until the dedicated funding source was authorized, the state only collected and maintained DNA samples from violent felons. The expansion will allow Missouri to include non-violent felony offenders in the system.

Law enforcement officials expect the expanded database to help solve more crimes in which DNA evidence is found at the crime scene.

The bill is HB 361.

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