Legislative Remedies
Recent Legislative Reforms
n Act 163 of 2022, the legislature provided courts with additional options when collecting fines, costs, and restitution. These changes allow all courts to reduce or waive all fines and costs (with one exception) and allows courts to send cases to private debt collection agencies if a defendant fails to appear for a payment determination hearing (with additional procedural protections for defendants under those circumstances). To learn more about the changes in this Act, please see our Guide to Act 163 of 2022 (updated 11/4/2022).
2019 Proposed Rules Changes
In March 2019, the Rules Committee released a revised proposal that would address how magisterial district courts impose and collect court fines and costs. While this revised proposal was responsive to some of the comments submitted in 2018 (detailed below), we believe that it still needs to be improved.
Read the Committee's proposal below. We have put together a summary of that proposal, as well as our reactions to it. Our complete comments are listed further down the page.
This proposal was out for public comment through May 2019 and garnered a number of comments. Those that the ACLU has copies of are posted here:
2018 Proposed Rules Changes
In January 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Procedural Rules Committee proposed reforming the way that magisterial district courts impose and collect court fines and costs.
Read the Committee's proposal below. We have put together a summary of that proposal, as well as our reactions to it. Our complete comments are listed further down the page.
The Committee’s proposal was out for public comment through February 2018, and it garnered a number of comments. Those that the ACLU has copies of are posted here:
- ACLU of Pennsylvania Comments
- Allegheny County Bar Association
- The Honorable Judge John R. Bailey and the Magisterial District Judges Association of Chester County
- The Honorable Judge Bruce J. Boni
- Community Legal Services, Inc.
- The Honorable Judge Wilden H. Davis
- The Honorable Judge Michael Defino, Jr.
- The Honorable Jayne F. Duncan
- Education Law Center
- Juvenile Law Center
- Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin LLP
- 29 Law Professors
- Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (PACDL) and the Public Defender Association of Pennsylvania (PDAP)
- Pennsylvania Interbranch Commission for Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness
- Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN)
- Philadelphia Bar Association
- Pro Bono Attorneys Volunteering with the Federal Reentry Court
- Professor Lisa Servon
- Southern Poverty Law Center and the ACLU
