BILL NUMBER:S5724

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in
relation to electronic citation fees

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To insure law enforcement safety and court efficiency by creating
electronic citations, which will be printed instead of hand-written.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends the Civil Practice Law and Rules.  Provides that the
clerks of the county in the state shall be entitled to charge and
collect an electronic citation fee of $5, which shall be paid by the
defendant in any traffic, misdemeanor, municipal ordinance, or
conserva- tion case upon a plea of guilty, judgment of guilty, or
grant of super- vision. Provides that 60% of the fee shall be
deposited into the "Elec- tronic Citation Fund," established by each
county, and 40% of the fee shall be disbursed to the arresting agency
to defray expenses related to the establishment and maintenance of
electronic citations. Contains provisions that establish the county
clerk as the custodian of the Elec- tronic Citation Fund, and accounts
for the duties that are required by the office for establishing and
maintaining electronic citations.  Provides that the county clerk
shall not charge and collect an electron- ic citation fee if the
              

county has by ordinance elected not to be subject to this section.

Section 2: Establishes the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:

Nationally, the leading cause of death for police officers over the
past decades has been being struck by a vehicle during a traffic stop,
according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund. The
purpose of administering electronic citations is to increase law
enforcement safety in the state. Instead of being hand-written,
electronic citations will be printed. Electronic citations will enable
police officers to issue citations in a quicker manner, spend less
time alongside the road and in harm's way, and concentrate more fully
on the stop. In addition to increasing officer safety, electronic
citations will also aid courts by reducing data entry and processing
costs. With electronic citations. courts will have greater efficiency
because they will be sent electronically by the issuing officer
directly to the court clerk. Furthermore, electronic citations will
relieve the issues with illegible hand-written citations, also making
future citations free of handwriting errors, as well as easily
reproducible unlike difficult to read carbon copies of documents.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

None.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.


EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect 180 days after it shall have become law.