ARIZONA STATE SENATE
RESEARCH STAFF
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VICENTE REYNA |
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ASSISTANT RESEARCH ANALYST |
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GRANT HANNA |
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LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH ANALYST COMMERCE & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE Telephone: (602) 926 -3171 |
COMMERCE & PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
DATE: March 15, 2018
SUBJECT: Strike everything amendment to H.B. 2527, relating to ticket surcharge; public safety equipment
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Purpose
Establishes the Peace Officer Training Equipment Fund (Fund), consisting of an additional surcharge on fines, penalties, forfeitures and diversion programs for traffic violations.
Background
Current law requires the Arizona Supreme Court to make public the amount of the court diversion fee assessed by each Arizona court, and the total cost to attend defensive driving school for dismissal of a designated minor traffic citation (A.R.S. § 28-3395). The total cost to attend consists of the total of four amounts: 1) the court diversion fee; 2) the state fee; 3) the state surcharge; and 4) a school fee (Arizona Supreme Court). Currently, the state surcharge is five dollars (A.R.S. § 12-114). This legislation would increase the surcharge to nine dollars.
The Judicial Collection Enhancement Fund (JCEF) is a revenue fund consisting of fees for various court services and surcharges on penalty assessments. Included within this fund is a five-dollar surcharge which is used for salaries of adult and juvenile probation and surveillance officers and for support of programs and services of the superior court adult and juvenile probation departments (Arizona Supreme Court).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
Fund Sources
1. Establishes the Fund.
2. Increases, from five dollars to nine dollars, the surcharge on the fee charged for diversion programs for traffic offenses.
3. Requires the Supreme Court to continue to deposit five dollars of the surcharge in the JCEF, and the remaining four dollars in the Fund.
4. Establishes an additional four-dollar assessment on fines, penalties or forfeitures that are collected for traffic violations.
5. Requires the four-dollar assessment and a remittance report to be transmitted to the county, city or town treasurer, depending on jurisdiction.
6. Requires the county, city or town treasurer to transmit the assessment and remittance report to the State Treasurer, who must then deposit the assessment in the Fund.
7. Requires the State Treasurer to invest and divest monies in the Fund.
8. Requires monies earned from investment to be credited to the Fund.
Peace Officer Equipment
9. States that monies in the Fund may only be used for peace officer equipment.
10. Requires the first $2,300,000 that is deposited in the Fund in FY 2019 to be appropriated to the Department of Public Safety to purchase virtual firing range equipment and software that:
a) are ballistically accurate to a degree of .08 milliradian, as verified by the Army;
b) take into account the exact weapon and round being fired;
c) emulate the real world as closely as possible, including ballistic fly-out projectiles, weapon behavior, projectile size, environmental effects and impact results;
d) will work with the virtual firing range simulators that are used by the state before the effective date; and
e) are capable of generating unlimited custom high definition video scenarios, skill drills, targeting exercises and firearms training in any setting.
Miscellaneous
11. Requires the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission to prepare a semi-decennial report beginning by December 1, 2018 on:
a) the current amount of each surcharge and assessment that is collected on every fine, penalty and forfeiture and collected by the courts for traffic violations; and
b) assessment monies expenditures.
12. States that monies in the Fund
a) do not revert to the state General Fund at the end of the fiscal year;
b) are exempt from lapsing requirements;
c) are subject to legislative appropriation.
13. Makes technical and conforming changes.
14. Becomes effective on January 1, 2019, except for the ACJC reporting requirement.