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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 10, 2013 01:10 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Thomas R. Caltagirone |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Re-introduction of Former HB1025 - Recording of Criminal Assessments as Civil Judgments |
| I will soon be re-introducing legislation that would raise to $5,000 the threshold above which Clerks of Court are mandated to submit certified copies of court ordered fees, fines, costs and restitution to our county Prothonotaries to be recorded as civil judgments. With the present $1,000 mandatory threshold, almost all criminal cases result in this lien filing requirement. That was never the legislative intent of this section. The mandatory filing was intended to primarily catch the higher dollar value cases, and now the burden on both Clerk of Court and Prothonotary staffs to accomplish these certified filings, in counties that are performing them according to law, is creating significant backlogs in their offices. This affects Pennsylvania’s high growth counties with populations and crime incident levels growing faster than their real estate tax bases. You will note below the high number of last term cosponsors from high growth counties. All cases, of whatever amount may continue to be so recorded, if a particular county has enough staff to keep up with the workload, but the legislation raises the mandatory threshold to $5,000, which will then be subjected to triennial inflation adjustment to keep it relevant. The state associations representing county Clerks of Court and Prothonotaries have supported, and have asked for this legislation. Last term, some stakeholders objected to this legislation, believing it would negatively impact the collection of restitution. I disagree with that view. I believe this legislation will improve the collection of restitution in our overburdened counties by allowing the larger cases to get liens recorded more quickly, before defendants can hide their assets. Some county courts have apparently allowed their staffs a shortcut procedure to improve the throughput of these liens, but I believe that is risky. The words "certified copies" mean specific things, and performing them according to law is labor intensive. Counties which are not experiencing this backlog are fortunate, but their good fortune should not prevent relief in counties which badly need it. Last terms cosponsors were: D. COSTA, SCAVELLO, STERN, AUMENT, BENNINGHOFF, CARROLL, COHEN, CUTLER, DeLUCA, DENLINGER, FABRIZIO, FLECK, GROVE, HICKERNELL, KORTZ, MAHONEY, MILLARD, MILNE, PASHINSKI, SANTONI AND SCHRODER. |
Introduced as HB463