SUMMARY--Provides additional remedies for collection of delinquent fines. (BDR 14-69)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: Yes.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: Yes.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to criminal procedure; providing additional remedies for the collection of delinquent fines; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
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Section 1 Chapter 176 of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 2 and 3 of this act.
Sec. 2 If a fine is imposed upon a defendant pursuant to this chapter, whether or not the fine is in addition to any other punishment, and the fine or any part of it remains unpaid after the time established by the court for its payment:
1. The defendant is liable for an additional administrative assessment of not more than $100 if the delinquency does not exceed $2,000 and not more than $500 in other cases, to be imposed by the court when it finds the defendant delinquent.
2. The court may:
(a) Order the suspension of the defendant's driver's license;
(b) Order the district attorney to undertake collection of the amount of the delinquency, including the original amount and the additional administrative assessment, by attachment or garnishment of the defendant's property, wages or other money receivable;
(c) Report the delinquency to reporting agencies that assemble or evaluate information concerning credit; or
(d) Take any combination of these actions.
Sec. 3 A county treasurer and the state treasurer shall account separately for the money received from additional assessments imposed pursuant to section 2 of this act for delinquencies of $2,000 or more. A county treasurer shall pay over all those amounts to the state treasurer, and the state treasurer shall deposit them in a special account. The court administrator, in cooperation with the administrators of courts in those counties that have such administrators, shall use the money in the special account to develop a program for the collection of delinquent fines.
Sec. 4 NRS 252.110 is hereby amended to read as follows:
252.110 The district attorney shall:
1. Draw all indictments, when required by the grand jury.
2. Defend all suits brought against his county.
3. Prosecute all recognizances forfeited in the district court , [and] all actions for the recovery of debts, fines, penalties and forfeitures accruing to his county [.] and all collections of delinquent fines and administrative assessments ordered by the district court.
4. Except with respect to matters for which the board of trustees of the school district has employed private counsel, draw all legal papers, give his written opinion when required on matters relating to the duties of the board of trustees and transact the legal business of the school district whose boundaries are conterminous with the boundaries of his county, and perform such other legal duties as may be required of him by the board of trustees.
5. Bring all actions on behalf of the county for abatement of nuisances pursuant to an order of the board of county commissioners or, in the discretion of the district attorney, pursuant to an ordinance of the county as provided [by NRS 244.360, subsection 6,] in subsection 6 of NRS 244.360, including actions for injunction, as well as for recovery of compensatory and exemplary damages and costs of suit.
6. Perform such other duties as may be required of him by law.
Sec. 5 NRS 483.443 is hereby amended to read as follows:
483.443 1. The department shall, upon receiving notification from a district attorney or other public agency collecting support for children that a court has determined a person is in arrears in the payment for the support of a child pursuant to NRS 425.3837, send a written notice to that person that his license is subject to suspension. The notice must include:
(a) The reason for the suspension of the license;
(b) The information set forth in subsections 2, [3 and 4;] 4 and 5; and
(c) Any other information the department deems necessary.
2. If a person who receives a notice pursuant to subsection 1 does not satisfy the arrearage as required in NRS 425.3837 within 30 days after he receives the notice, the department shall suspend his license.
3. The department shall suspend immediately the license of a defendant if so ordered pursuant to section 2 of this act.
4. The department shall reinstate the driver's license of a person whose license was suspended pursuant to this section if it receives:
(a) A notice from the district attorney or other public agency pursuant to NRS 425.3837 that the person has satisfied the arrearages pursuant to that section [;] or from a district judge that a delinquency for which the suspension was ordered pursuant to section 2 of this act has been discharged; and
(b) Payment of the fee for reinstatement of a suspended license prescribed in NRS 483.410.
[4.] 5. The department shall not require a person whose driver's license was suspended pursuant to this section to submit to the tests and other requirements which are adopted by regulation pursuant to subsection 1 of NRS 483.495 as a condition of the reinstatement of his license.