Legal Advice

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the assessment of Crime Lab Fee, CLF, fund monies. Based on O.C.G.A. § 42-8-34 and the Clerks' Authority's Rule and Regulation 1.15, CLF is assessed once per case and does not require a fine to be assessed. If a case has multiple counts subject to CLF and fines are assessed on multiple counts, then a case is defined as a count and CLF applies to all counts where a fine is imposed.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the assessment of Alternative Dispute Resolution, ADR, fund monies on notary public commissions. Consistent interpretation has been that additional civil fees apply to the commission of notary public because they are civil actions. Per O.C.G.A. § 15-23-7, ADR applies to civil actions which includes issuance of a notary public commission.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the collection of Law Library fund monies. Based on O.C.G.A. § 36-15-9(b), the law library fee is assessed on each case docketed in front of the court. This includes all civil, criminal and quasi-criminal cases. The fee is assessed only once for each docketed case and not assessed per count.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the collection and remittance of POAB fund monies for pre-trial diversion fees. Effective July 1, 2018, pre-trial diversion fees must be remitted to the clerk of court, then to the respective political subdivision along with a POAB approved form. The political subdivision remits the portion of the fees designated for POAB to the secretary-treasurer of POAB on a monthly basis.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the implementation of Senate Bill 160 related to the Georgia State Indemnification Fund, GSIF. Discretionary fines may be imposed if currently authorized by Code, and where a discretionary fine is imposed in an amount less than the mandatory minimum to be earmarked to the GSIF, the entire fine imposed is to be set aside for the GSIF.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the offenses which are subject to earmarking of Georgia State Indemnification Fund, GSIF, monies and the minimum fine for each offense. Effective July 1, 2017, violations of O.C.G.A. §§ 16-5-21(c) and 16-5-24(c) have a minimum fine of $2,000.00, and O.C.G.A. § 16-10-24 has a minimum fine of $300.00 which is to be earmarked for the GSIF and remitted to the Authority for disbursement to the Department of Administrative Services after all surcharges and deductions required by Chapter 21 of Title 15, Code Sections 36-15-9 and 42-8-34 and Title 47 have been paid.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the earmarking, collection and disbursement of Georgia State Indemnification Fund, GSIF, monies. Effective July 1, 2017, monies earmarked for the GSIF for violations of O.C.G.A. §§§ 16-5-21(c), 16-5-24(c) or 16-10-24 should be remitted to the Authority for disbursement to the Department of Administrative Services after all surcharges and deductions required by Chapter 21 of Title 15, Code Sections 36-15-9 and 42-8-34 and Title 47 have been paid.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the calculation of bond surcharges which concludes bond surcharges are always calculated from the original bond. In addition, once a bond is forfeited and surcharges are remitted to the Authority for deposit into the general treasury, once deposited, no monies shall be drawn from the treasure except by appropriation.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the assessment of law library concludes that law library is a surcharge to fines and filing fees for all civil and criminal cases except for Superior Court civil filings where it is a deduction from the filing fee.

Letter from the AG's office providing guidance regarding the implementation of the new partial payment priority schedule for Superior and State courts concluding, "The amended priority distribution schedule under O.C.G.A. § 15-6-95 should be applied to criminal fines, forfeitures and costs assessed on or after July 1, 2012. As to fees assessed prior to July 1, 2012, the priority distribution schedule in effect at the time of the assessment should be applied regardless of when the partial payments are made.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the assessment of O.C.G.A. § 15-21-73 surcharges on violations of O.C.G.A. § 40-6-163(d), overtaking a school bus, concludes they do not apply.

Letter from the AG's office providing guidance regarding the assessment of the 50% Drug Abuse Treatment and Education Fund, DATE, fee on drug violations.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the assessment of the Judicial Operations Fund Fee, JOF, on Notary Public commissions when paid with a government check.

AG Official Opinion regarding the Judicial Operations Fund Fee imposed by O.C.G.A. § 15-21A-6.1(a) for the issuance of certificates of appointment and reappointment to notaries public.

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the Crime Lab Fee which concludes that O.C.G.A. § 42-8-30.1 exempts the fees ($23 monthly supervision and $50 one time) referenced under O.C.G.A. § 42-8-34(d)(1). However, O.C.G.A. § 42-8-30.1 does NOT exempt the fee ($25 one time) referenced under O.C.G.A. § 42-8-34(d)(2).

Letter from the AG's office pertaining to the amount required to be withheld and paid over to the Sheriffs' Retirement Fund, Superior Court Clerks' Retirement Fund, Probate Judges Retirement Fund and Law Library in criminal or quasi-criminal cases for violation of state statutes, county ordinances or municipal ordinances is not required to be withheld and paid over in cases involving the failure to wear a seat safety belt in a motor vehicle under O.C.G.A. 40-8-76.1(e).

AG Official Opinion regarding the amount required to be withheld and paid over to the Peace Officers' Annuity and Benefit fund in criminal or quasi-criminal cases for violation of state statutes, county ordinances or municipal ordinances is not required to be withheld and paid over in cases involving the failure to wear a seat safety belt in a motor vehicle under O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1(e).

Letter from the AG's office discussing how LVAP should be processed after June 30, 2006.

AG Official Opinion concluding the additional penalty imposed under O.C.G.A. § 15-21-131 should be collected in traffic cases, unless there is a specific exception, in which the accused posts a cash bond that is substantially forfeited and applied as a fine in lieu of the accused appearing in court.

Letter from the AG's office concluding that in traffic cases in which a cash bond is forfeited in lieu of an appearance, the amount of cash bond imposed should take into account the additional penalty imposed by O.C.G.A. § 15-21-131 related to the Local Victim Assistance Programs fund.

AG Official Opinion regarding the definition of a "traffic law" for purposes of imposition of new 5% Driver Education and Training Fund surcharge imposed by O.C.G.A. § 15-21-179.

AG Unofficial Opinion concluding monetary surcharges per O.C.G.A. § 15-21-73 are not applicable to traffic violations captured on traffic-control signal monitoring devices producing images of motor vehicles being operated in disregard or disobedience of a CIRCULAR RED or RED ARROW signal.

Letter from the AG's office discussing the imposition of the new 5% surcharge on all traffic violations as contained in Senate Bill 226.

AG Official Opinion concluding local governing authorities are not authorized to enact local ordinances that differ from O.C.G.A § 15-6-95 which establishes an order of priority for the distribution of partial payments toward criminal fines, forfeitures or costs that are received by clerks of superior court.

Letter from the AG's office concluding O.C.G.A. § 40-8-76.1(e)(2) appears to specifically prohibit adding any additional penalty, fee or surcharge to the $15 fine for failure to wear a seat safety belt.

Letter from the AG's office concluding the bond surcharges required by O.C.G.A. § 15-21-73(a)(2) are not required to be paid over to the GSCCCA, unless the bond is forfeited.

Letter from the AG's office that deals with the issue of whether the inclusion of costs in the original fine should be included in the calculation of the additional penalty. Also there is a reference to partial payment and priority of distributions.

Letter from the AG's office defining what courts are affected by the new $15 filing fee on civil actions.

Letter from the AG's office that deals with section 26 of the HB 1EX, specifically addressing where probation fees are remitted and who remits them.

Letter from the AG's office that deals with Section 5 of HB 1EX, specifically whether the new fines and fees apply to offenses committed prior to the effective date of the legislation.

Letter from the AG's office discussing HB 1EX that was signed by the Governor on June 15, 2004. The new fines and fees become effective upon his signature. These fees include the 10% surcharge on criminal fines, $15 fee on civil filings and a new surcharge of the lesser of 10% or $50 on bonds.

Also, the question was asked if the new $15 Civil Action Surcharge applied to civil filings that currently have no cost, such as family violence petitions. We have concluded that it does not apply in such instances.