HB 482 -- APPOINTED COUNSEL FUND

SPONSOR:  Jones (89)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass by consent" by the Committee on
Judiciary by a vote of 14 to 0.

This bill allows municipal courts to create an appointed counsel
fund to pay the reasonable attorney fees approved by the court of
any attorney appointed to represent a defendant who is indigent
and unable to pay for legal representation when prescribed by
Supreme Court rules.

Moneys for the fund will come from the $1 fee collected on each
case which currently is deposited into a judicial education fund.
The court will determine the allocation of the fees between the
accounts, but no court can retain more than $1,500 in the
judicial education fund for each judge, administrator, or clerk
of the court and no more than $5,000 in the appointed counsel
fund.

FISCAL NOTE:  No impact on state funds in FY 2010, FY 2011, and
FY 2012.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that fines have not been effective in
deterring repeat offenders in municipal courts and they often
come to court without an attorney on purpose to prevent receiving
jail time sentencing since they cannot be sentenced to jail time
without having counsel present.  The bill will allow a judge to
appoint counsel in these situations to better serve the courts.

Testifying for the bill were Representative Jones (89); Jess
Ullom; and Missouri Bar.

OPPONENTS:  There was no opposition voiced to the committee.

Missouri House of Representatives
95th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated November 17, 2009 at 9:24 am