§45-7-82.27. Costs and fees.

(a) Prior to admission, the office of the district attorney may charge a nonrefundable application fee of one hundred dollars ($100). The amount of the assessment for participation in the program shall be in addition to any program supervision fees, court costs, and assessments for drug, alcohol, or anger treatments required by law, the district attorney, or the court, and are in addition to costs of supervision, treatment, and restitution for which the pretrial diversion admittee may be responsible. It may be mandatory for the offender to pay all court costs for the offense charged. Pretrial diversion program fees as established by this subpart may be waived or reduced due to indigence, reduced ability to pay, or for other just cause at the discretion of the district attorney. The determination of indigence of the offender, for the purpose of pretrial diversion admission, fee waiver, or reduction shall be made by the district attorney. A schedule of payments for any of these fees may be established by the district attorney.

(b) The following fees shall be applied to applicants accepted into the pretrial diversion program:

(1) Felony offenses, up to seven hundred fifty dollars ($750).

(2) Misdemeanor and traffic offenses, up to five hundred dollars ($500).

(c) The district attorney may use fees collected by the pretrial diversion program for any of the following:

(1) To fund the pretrial diversion program.

(2) For the prosecution of state criminal cases.

(3) To help support local and state law enforcement and coroners.

(4) For education programs which relate to the prosecution of, detection of, or prevention of crime.

(5) To benefit any agency or department of state, city, or county government which assists local law enforcement.

(d) In cases where the applicant is not indigent, the following additional fees may be applied to each case in the following amounts:

(1) Fifty dollars ($50) allocated to the clerk of court in the filing county for each application.

(2) Twenty-five dollars ($25) allocated to the clerk of court in the filing county for each applicant accepted into the pretrial diversion program per charge.

(3) Twenty-five dollars ($25) for felony offenses, allocated to the arresting or ticketing agency.

(4) Twenty-five dollars ($25) for misdemeanor offenses, allocated to the arresting or ticketing agency.

(5) Twenty-five dollars ($25) for all traffic offenses, allocated to the Department of Forensic Sciences Implied Consent Unit.

(6) Up to fifty dollars ($50) for each offense, allocated to the general fund of the county commission of the county where the offense occurred.

(e) All fees collected under subsection (d) are to be used at the discretion of the given entity to support its operations. These uses may include, but are not limited to, hiring employees, buying needed equipment and supplies, providing training opportunities, or any other lawful purposes.

(f) Fees required by this subpart shall be collected by the office of the circuit clerk in which the offense was filed. Those fees due to the district attorney shall then be disbursed to the district attorney and shall be deposited by the district attorney into the pretrial diversion fund as described in Section 45-7-82.30. The circuit clerk shall make the disbursement in a timely manner.

(g) The district attorney shall be allowed, without further legislative action, to raise fees to meet and equal those prescribed by the Legislature in the event a state pretrial diversion program is enacted after the enactment of this subpart.

(Act 2009-460, p. 802, §8.)