Sen. Darryl Rouson
The impact of criminal and traffic fines and fees on low-income Floridians and the efficacy of relying on those revenues for government programs would be studied by a special council under a bill now moving through the Florida Legislature.
SB 492, by Sen. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee 10-0 on March 9.
It would create the Council on the Discretionary Imposition of Criminal Justice and Traffic Fines and Fees, supported by the Attorney General’s Office.
“Over the past 20 years, there has been a growing use of fees and fines in the criminal legal system in the state of Florida. Research conducted in other states shows this system of revenue generation has come at a high cost to families impacted by them while being an inefficient system of revenue generation,” Rouson told the committee.