FISCAL NOTE TO

SENATE, No. 702

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

DATED: AUGUST 21, 1996

      Senate Bill No. 702 of 1996 imposes an additional penalty of $30 against a person convicted of a crime and $15 against a juvenile adjudicated delinquent for the commission of a crime. The bill also establishes the Law Enforcement Officers Training and Equipment Fund into which these fines are deposited. The moneys in the fund would be distributed by the Police Training Commission in the Department of Law and Public Safety to police training schools to support basic and in-service police training courses and to purchase equipment.

      The additional penalty imposed by this bill would be collected only after collection of the penalty assessed in section 2 of P.L.1979, c.396 (C.2C:43-3.1) for use by the Victims of Crime Compensation Board and after all court ordered restitution is paid. Failure to pay the penalty would result in having it deducted from inmate income or in suspension of a person's driver's license.

      The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) estimates that based on the number of sentences for title 2C crimes handed down for adults during 1994, there would be 27,994 sentences handed down per year. If a $30 penalty were assessed for each of these offenses as provided in the bill, the sum of $838,320 would be collected.

      The AOC also notes that based on the number of sentences for juveniles adjudicated delinquent in 1995, there would be 28,416 juveniles affected by this bill. This number does not include the 2,443 cases handled by referees, a portion of which would fall under the adjudicated delinquent category. Including an estimate of 50 percent of the latter cases, a $15 assessment would result in a total annual collection of $444,570.

      The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) notes that the estimate provided by the AOC assumes that all offenders charged with the penalty will pay the assessment. Historically, the rate of collection falls far below the anticipated rate due to the high number of indigent offenders in the system. Thus, the amount quoted by the AOC represents a maximum figure. The actual collections would probably be much lower.

      The Office of Legislative Services concurs.

This fiscal note has been prepared pursuant to P.L.1980, c.67.