HB 41 reduces the fee paid to the superior court clerks for preparing trial records for appeal from $10.00 per page to $1.00 per page. This bill also provides that the judicial operations fund fee will not apply to the issuance of certificate of appointment or reappointment of notaries public.

The clerk of superior court is required to provide an exact copy of the record (not to include the transcript) in all capital criminal cases where there was a conviction at no cost to the Attorney General's Office.

Under current law, certain fees are collected by the superior court clerks in conjunction with recording certain property records that are given to the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority to help fund a state-wide uniform automated information system.  This funding mechanism is scheduled to terminate on July 1, 2014.  HB 198 eliminates this sunset. This bill was signed by the Governor on April 16, 2012.

This bill eliminates the tiered surcharge on traffic fines to fund probate judges retirement.  There will now be a $3.00 surcharge on every traffic case.

This legislation dedicates the fees collected from various court cases both criminal and civil to fund the Georgia Public Defender System. This is the companion bill to HR 977 which provides the constitutional authority to dedicate these fees.

This resolution provides for a constitutional amendment to dedicate existing fees and assessment for funding legal services for the indigent. HB 648 is the companion bill.

Often times, criminal defendants do not pay all of their criminal fines, surcharges and other fees all at one time. When only a partial payment is made, Georgia law establishes priorities for how the funds are distributed to the various funds and agencies to which they are owed. SB 50 reorders the fees and adds funding of local victim assistance programs to the priority list.   The list was reordered to place all fees that are kept locally or benefit local government ahead of all fees that are remitted to the state.  The local governing authority has moved up to number 9 on this list from 14 in the last version of the bill.

SB 53 requires every county to prepare a map or plat by December 31, 2011 showing a special district for every public or private university, college or junior college in the unincorporated area. Any fine for violations of any criminal act, traffic violation or ordinance violation that occurs within this special district would include an additional penalty of 50% of the original fine. On half of the addition 50% would be retained by the county, the other half of this would be required to be placed into a special fund for that special district. The amounts from this special fund could only be used to enhance public safety services for the special district. The county would be required to file a report with the Department of Community Affairs detailing the county's compliance with this law.

This bill will create an add on to fines in State, Probate, Juvenile and Municipal courts in the amount of $5.00 per case to be paid to the county to fund awards for information leading to the apprehension of suspected felons.

SB 350 specifies that guns forfeited because of their use in the commission of a crime must be disposed of to the highest bidder once they are no longer of use to the law enforcement agency.  Before disposing of the gun, law enforcement must try to find the rightful owner, if it is suspected that the gun may have been stolen.  Guns that belong to innocent owners must be returned to those owners.

This bill prohibits counties and cities from adopting ordinances or resolutions that impose a tax or fee on pawnbrokers on a per transaction basis or on the sales of goods to be resold.  It will not prohibit the collection of regulatory fees or occupation taxes.  Several local governments in Georgia utilize these fees to track merchandise, identify and recover stolen property.  The bill, if passed, would directly violate home rule principles. This bill did not pass.