HB1024: Court costs; collection by DMV.
HOUSE BILL NO. 1024
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 19.2-349.1 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 19.2-349.1. Receipt of unpaid fines, costs, forfeitures, penalties, or restitution by Department of Motor Vehicles.
At the direction of the
Committee on District Courts or at the request of a circuit court clerk, the The Executive
Secretary of the Supreme Court may shall enter into an agreement
with the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles authorizing the
Department of Motor Vehicles to receive, on behalf of a district or circuit
court, payment of any delinquent fines, costs, forfeitures, and penalties,
including any court-ordered restitution of a sum certain, imposed by a court
for the violation of a state law or a local ordinance. However,
in no case shall the The
Department of Motor Vehicles be authorized to shall establish an installment
plan for any such payments or to receive partial
payment of the full amount imposed by the court for the
violation of a state law or a local ordinance subject
to the same conditions and requirements set forth in
§ 19.2-354.
For each such payment it receives, the Department of Motor Vehicles may impose and collect a processing fee, to be used to defray the costs of the transaction to the Department. Such transaction fee shall be $2, unless payment is made by credit card or debit card and the merchant's fees and other transaction costs imposed by the card issuer are charged to the Department of Motor Vehicles, in which case the processing fee shall be the greater of (i) $2 or (ii) an amount not to exceed four percent of the amount of the payment. The Department may also collect any processing fee charged by a private vendor operating under contract to distribute to the court payments received by the Department. All processing fees imposed and collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles under this section shall be in addition to the other fees specified in this chapter. All such processing fees collected by the Department of Motor Vehicles shall be paid into the state treasury as provided in § 46.2-206 and used to meet the expenses of the Department of Motor Vehicles. The service charge provided under § 46.2-212.1 shall not be added to the processing fee authorized under this section. Other fees specified in this chapter, including those payable pursuant to collections contracts made by attorneys for the Commonwealth, shall not be diminished or offset due to receipt of payments by the Department of Motor Vehicles.