SCS HCS HB 237 & HB 238 & HB 482 -- COURTS

This bill changes the laws regarding courts and court procedures.
In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Requires a person to appear on a service of summons no less
than 10 days nor more than 60 days from the date the summons was
delivered instead of the current nor more than 30 days;

(2)  Allows the required annual report of the Judicial Finance
Commission regarding the finances of the Judicial Department to
be consolidated with any other annual report prepared by the
Missouri Supreme Court or the Office of State Courts
Administrator if it is distributed to the required parties;

(3)  Allows municipal courts to create an appointed counsel fund
to pay the reasonable fees approved by the court for any attorney
appointed to represent a defendant who is found by the judge to
be indigent and unable to pay for legal representation and where
prescribed by Supreme Court rules or the law; and

(4)  Specifies that moneys for the appointed counsel fund will
come from the $1 fee collected on each case which currently is
deposited into the 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.

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