INCREASE LEGAL NOTICE FEES S.B. 1104: COMMITTEE SUMMARY




Senate Bill 1104 (as introduced 2-28-06)
Sponsor: Senator Alan L. Cropsey
Committee: Judiciary


Date Completed: 3-14-06

CONTENT
The bill would amend the Revised Judicature Act (RJA) to increase the fees for publishing a legal notice or an order, citation, summons, advertisement, or other matter arising out of judicial proceedings required by law to be published in a newspaper, as shown in Table 1.


Table 1

Notice Current Fee a) Proposed Fee b)
Max. cost per folio for first insertion $15.00 $20.50
Max. cost per folio for each subsequent insertion $5.85 $8.45
Min. allowable cost for a notice that must appear at least twice $42.50 $59.00
Min. allowable cost for a notice that must appear only once $31.60 $44.00
a) The RJA provides that each year for three years, beginning June 1, 1996, the rates must be adjusted by the increase in the rate of inflation, as measured by the Detroit consumer price index (CPI).
b) The bill specifies that each year, beginning June 1, 2007, the rates would have to be adjusted by the increase in the Detroit CPI, and rounded to the nearest multiple of five cents.

MCL 600.2534 Legislative Analyst: Patrick Affholter

FISCAL IMPACT
The bill would have a minimal fiscal impact on State and local government. Current rates for the publication of legal notices vary considerably across different newspapers, so it is difficult to determine the costs in any given case. These costs are borne by the parties in the majority of cases. There would be an increase in court costs for cases in which a party is indigent. The State or a local unit of government also would experience an increase in costs in cases in which it is a party. It is difficult to determine the total number of cases the bill would affect.

Fiscal Analyst: Stephanie Yu

Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb1104/0506