Allows the circuit court of St. Louis City to collect a civil case filing fee of an amount not to exceed $20, rather than $15, for certain uses, including the maintenance of a law library
Summary
SB 800 revises Missouri’s court filing surcharge law for civil cases filed in circuit court. Under current law, circuit judges sitting en banc may require a surcharge at the time a civil case is filed, and the bill keeps that general authority in place while updating the maximum amount certain courts may charge. For most circuits, the cap remains up to $15, but the bill allows the circuit court in Jackson County, the circuit court in the City of St. Louis, and circuits that reimburse the state for family court commissioner salaries to raise the surcharge to as much as $20.
The bill also preserves the existing exclusions for cases where costs are waived or paid by a county, the state, or a city. In addition, it repeals a now-expired provision that had allowed a specific first-class county to impose an extra $10 fee in certain cases. The practical effect is to give the affected courts more flexibility to set filing surcharges within the new statutory limits, while removing obsolete language from the statute.
Impact
SB 800 amends section 488.426, RSMo, governing civil case filing surcharges in circuit court. It increases the maximum surcharge authority for the City of St. Louis, Jackson County, and certain circuits tied to family court commissioner reimbursement from $15 to $20, while leaving the general $15 cap in place for other circuits. The bill also removes an expired county-specific surcharge provision, thereby updating and consolidating the statute. The affected parties are civil litigants filing in the specified courts, and the revenue generated may support court-related uses such as law library maintenance, as reflected in the bill caption.
Sentiment
The available context suggests generally favorable or routine support for the bill, with no recorded committee transcript debate or votes indicating opposition. The bill appears to be a technical and local court-funding measure rather than a controversial policy change. Its caption indicates a practical purpose—allowing St. Louis City courts to collect a slightly higher filing fee for specified uses—suggesting the measure was framed as a modest adjustment to existing court funding authority.
Contention
No specific points of contention are documented in the provided transcripts or voting history. The main policy issue inherent in the bill is the increase in civil filing surcharges, which can affect litigants by raising the cost of accessing the courts in the covered jurisdictions. Any disagreement would likely center on the balance between court funding needs—such as law library maintenance and other court operations—and the burden of higher filing fees on parties to civil cases, but no named opponents or objections are shown in the record provided.