eService Center - Administrative Office of the Courts

How does the E2SHB 1783 Legal Financial Obligation (LFO) Bill affect the Superior Courts?

Effective June 7, 2018, Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1783 eliminates the accrual of interest on criminal non-restitution Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs) and prioritizes how restitution should be paid. It also prohibits certain court costs from being imposed on defendants who are indigent at the time of sentencing.

No Interest on Non-restitution Criminal LFOs

This bill allows only restitution to accrue the 12% interest at the courts (JIS or Odyssey) or once assigned to a collection agency. This bill is not retroactive and does not require courts to waive or refund interest accrued up until June 7, 2018. However, once the defendant is released from total confinement, they can move for a waiver of all non-restitution interest.

Interest at the courts:

The interest programs, in Odyssey and JIS, will only assess interest on restitution amounts beginning July 2018 (June interest job will be run prior to effective date).

• JIS Courts: In addition to the interest program changes in JIS, the following updates have been made as well:
  • Changes to the Create Account Receivable screen (CAR):
  • The Interest Y/N Flag on all non-restitution Accounts Receivables (ARs) will be set to (N)o;
  • Non-restitution ARs will not be allowed to be changed to (Y)es;
  • An automated entry will be made on June 6, 2018 on the Case Accounting Note Update screen (CAN):
  • "An automated system program update has changed the accrue interest flag(s) for non-restitution amounts on this case to NO, per RCW 10.82.090."
    

Interest in collections:

The JIS Collection Agent Detail Report: The report has been updated to separate out any restitution balance on cases at the time of assignment. A sample of the report is attached at the bottom of this answer.
The BIT Collection - Restitution (SC) Report: Cases already assigned to collections will only be able to accrue interest on restitution criminal LFOs as of June 7, 2018. However, the JIS Collection Agent Detail Report did not identify the restitution amount at the time. Therefore, a Business Intelligence Tool (BIT) report has been created for courts to run, identify any outstanding restitution balances, and provide the information to the collection agency.

• Restitution Summary: The first tab of the report identifies the obligor, case number, the RTN cost Fee Code, and restitution amount due as of the date the report is run.
• Detail by Name: The second tab includes additional detail sorted by obligor. Details include obligor name code, collection status date, collection agency name and name code, total assigned amount, all Cost Fee Codes and amounts, amount paid, and total due as of the date the report is run.
• Detail by Case: The third tab includes additional detail sorted by case. Details include obligor name code, collection status date, collection agency name and name code, total assigned amount, all Cost Fee Codes and amounts, amount paid, and total due as of the date the report is run.
• Odyssey Courts: This report will identify any cases assigned to collections while a JIS Court only. There is currently not a report in Odyssey to identify these cases. If you have assigned cases to collections while an Odyssey Court, request a report from the collection agency for all cases assigned to collections since the go-live date in Odyssey.

Payment Prioritization

This bill requires that LFOs be applied in the following order: 1) proportionally to restitution to victims that have not been fully compensated from other sources; 2) proportionally to restitution to insurance or other sources with respect to a loss that has provided compensation to victims; 3) proportionally to Crime Victim's Assessments; 4) proportionally to costs, fines, and other assessments required by law.

Note: This does not impact RCW 9.94A.780(7) which allows collection first for reimbursement for collection costs. The DNA Fee and Jail Costs shall still be lowest priority.

Odyssey Courts: Payment priorities will be modified as following fee categories:

1. Reimbursement for collection costs (fee codes 3502 & 4502);
   Note: Assessing this reimbursement is an option and the priority level is at the discretion of the clerk.
2. Uncompensated restitution recipients (i.e. personal victims);
3. Compensated restitution recipients (i.e. insurance companies);
4. Crime Victim Penalty Assessment (fee codes 3101, 4101, 3150, 4150);
5. Other costs, fees, and assessments;
6. Jail Costs (3508, 4508) and DNA Fees (3202 - 3210).

JIS Courts: Payment priorities should be set by staff on the Create Account Receivable screen (CAR) as follows:

Costs and Indigent Defendants

This bill removes the ability for certain costs to be imposed on indigent defendants, allows for when a defendant may request costs be converted to community restitution, and adjustments to crime victim assessments.

• If indigent, certain costs may not be imposed, including but not limited to, the following:
  • Costs of court proceedings including jury fees if person is convicted or held on bail to keep the peace - RCW 10.01.160.
  • Costs of incarceration - RCW 10.01.160.
  • Criminal Conviction/Guilty plea fee of $43.00 imposed under Title 3 RCW or Title 35 RCW - RCW 3.62.085.
  • $200 CLJ Appeal Fee - RCW 36.18.020.
    
    Note: Being indigent is not grounds for failing to impose the Restitution and the Crime Victims fee
• RCW 43.43.7451 was amended so the $100 DNA fee cannot be imposed if the state has previously collected the DNA.
• The crime victim assessments have been modified to be 100% to the crime victim penalty subaccount 20 (BARS Code 341.98.02) and changes will be made to the following:
  • The Crime Victim Penalty (AR Type Codes CVP and PJC)(Odyssey Fee Codes 3104, 4101, 3150, 4150).
  • The first $500 (felony) or $250 (gross misdemeanor) receipted on a bail or bond forfeiture (JRS Trans codes and Odyssey Fee codes 2309, 2311).

Fail to Comply/Contempt of Court

This bill amends RCW 9.94A.6333, RCW 9.94B.040, and RCW 10.01.180 so that courts may only consider willfully failing to pay any fine, penalty, assessment, fee or costs as a violation, issue a warrant or sanctions. Persons who are homeless, mentally ill or indigent may not be found to willfully fail to pay.

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