Alternative Funding for Trial Courts: Implementation Recommendations

Under the direction of Public Act 47, the Michigan’s State Court Administrative Office set out to implement the Trial Court Funding Commission’s recommendations for addressing barriers to fair and effective trial court funding, including the establishment of a uniform approach to imposing assessments and making indigency determinations. The new model proposes that costs and fees only be ordered if the person is found not indigent, based on a three-pronged test.

Other recommendations include:  

• Trial court operational costs will be funded by: the local funding unit, centralized collections in the Trial Court Fund, existing state and federal contributions, and increased appropriations from the state. 
  
• The Trial Court Fund, established within the Department of Treasury, will centralize the receipt and disbursal of court revenues. 
  
• Restitution should continue to be assessed whenever appropriate, and fines and the Crime Victim’s Rights Assessment be ordered in the judge’s discretion in accordance with goals of accountability.
  
• Courts will order assessments, hear requests for reduction or waiver of assessments due to subsequent change in financial circumstances, and receive restitution payments from Treasury for disbursal to individual crime victims. The Treasury will be responsible for collecting assessments and imposing late fees, utilizing its own practices and policies regarding collection efforts and writing off old debt. 
  
• Court-based enforcement tools, such as bench warrants, probation revocations, and driver’s license suspensions, will be eliminated. 

Read the full report here.