Best Practices Committee

February 28, 2003

Members Present	Judge Evan Sperline, Chair
	Ms. Linda Bell
	Ms. Cece Clynch
	Judge Randal Fritzler
	Judge Larry McKeeman
	Judge Karen Seinfeld
Members Absent	Ms. Madelyn Botta
	Judge Steven R. Buzzard
	Judge Susan Cook
	Judge Rod Fitch
	Justice Faith Ireland
	Ms. Barbara Johnson
	Ms. JoAnne McBride
	Mr. David Ponzoha
	Ms. Yolande Williams
Staff Present	Ms. Colleen Clark
	Dr. Andy Glenn
	Ms. Yvonne Pettus

Call to Order

Judge Evan Sperline called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m. Those present introduced themselves. The minutes of October 25, 2002 were entered into the record as written.

Review of Collection Information

Summary of Statues

Staff had been asked to summarize the statutes and laws pertaining to criminal revenue collection and distribution. Selected RCW statutes were pulled together and distributed at the meeting in handout form, discussion of these statutes was led by Ms. Pettus. One of the difficulties in the superior court system is that a person pays money to the Department of Corrections thinking that this money was for payment of court fines when it really was applied to a supervision fee obligation.

Accounts Receivable Write-Off Policy

A handout was provided showing the scope of the guidelines for courts to follow when writing off accounts receivable.

Bills of Interest Before the Legislature

HB 1031: “Revising rules for payment of traffic infraction and misdemeanor penalties.” This bill passed the House Judiciary Committee and is now in Appropriations.

HB 1514: “Suspending accrual of interest for financial obligations during total confinement.”

HB 1836: “Revising the interest rate applied to legal financial obligations.”

HB 2078: “Providing commencement dates for interest on restitution payments.”

SB 5168: “Authorizing reduction of interest on legal financial obligations.”

Tables of Collection Information

Staff collected information for both Superior Courts and Courts of Limited Jurisdiction (CLJ) regarding collection of criminal files and costs, the tables handed out included:

Collection Rates over Time – by Case Type and Fine Amount

Frequency of Cases with and without Payment Histories

Average Duration to First Receipt of Payment

Collection Rates over time for Cases with a Positive Payment Stream

Collection Rates at (various times) from AR Open Date

Dr. Glenn explained the data that had been collected and answered questions from the committee members. There is a difficulty in comparing CLJ and Superior Courts; each has their own set of problems. It was noted that aggressive court collection may not be the answer.

Should there be a Best Practice adopted recommending an approach judges should take at sentencing when assessing fines to ensure offenders understand interest accrual?

Court Performance Audits

The Board for Judicial Administration would like the Best Practices committee to discuss how a Performance Audit might be conducted. HB 1503 is currently in Appropriations, it is a bill that encourages the courts to perform audits.

The committee agreed that focusing on the “Framework for doing a Performance Audit” might be a good place to begin.

Action Items

• Staff will breakdown CLJ information from surveys that have been received, checking for patterns, estimated cost of collection, etc.

• Is there an indication of how people choose who they’re going to pay first when they owe fines in multiple courts/counties?

• License restoration programs – assess if they assist in collections.

• Courts on the I-5 corridor versus interior counties – assess if they are exposed to different collection patterns.

• Determine the percentage of cases that are actually paid in full.

Next Meeting

The meeting adjourned at 11:10 a.m. The next meeting will be held on Friday, April 11 at 9:00 a.m. (note earlier start time); it will again be held in Tacoma at the Court of Appeals.

Respectfully submitted,
Colleen Clark