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Wednesday, May 28, 2003 |
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Posted on May 25, 2003 Hawkins opposes criminal fee
tom.langhorne@shj.com Area criminal prosecutors are dismayed that Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, a lawyer who once ran for attorney general, is spearheading opposition to a measure that would recoup law enforcement and prosecution budget cuts out of the pockets of convicted defendants. Budget Proviso 73.3 would tack a $25 surcharge onto all monetary penalties paid by individuals who are convicted of any criminal offense that can be charged by writing a uniform traffic ticket. Such offenses include driving under the influence, criminal domestic violence, marijuana possession, shoplifting and traffic offenses. No portion of the surcharge could be waived, reduced or suspended. But Hawkins says Proviso 73.3 is nothing more than a tax increase in disguise -- and an "unfair and hypocritical" one to boot, given that the Legislature hasn't passed any tax increases to fund education. He said he can't support "special treatment" for criminal justice agencies. "It would be unfair and hypocritical of us to tell teachers we're not going to fund them through a tax increase, but we will select out a group of other agencies and fund them through what is, in essence, a tax increase," he said. Solicitors Trey Gowdy and Bob Ariail say the proposed surcharge is fair because it targets only those who drain the criminal justice system's resources while leaving the taxpaying public alone. S.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal, who made a personal appeal to Hawkins to no avail, says Proviso 73.3 is "desperately needed" to keep South Carolina's court system operating. Restoring cuts Gowdy said Proviso 73.3 represents a golden opportunity to restore two years' worth of budget cuts -- cuts he says have hurt his ability to prosecute accused criminals -- with- out burdening taxpayers. "This isn't going to increase my budget by one cent because the more the state gives me, the less the county will have to give me. After all, I need a certain amount of money to run my office and nothing more," he said. "What it will do is lower the amount of my budget that taxpayers have to pay and increase the amount that people who are convicted of criminal and traffic offenses pay. "How is that a bad thing? If you're convicted of an offense that requires judicial, law enforcement and prosecutorial resources, why shouldn't you bear a greater weight for funding those agencies?" Surcharges have been used to fund victim services in the criminal justice system, but Pro-viso 73.3 marks the first time that prosecutors have asked for any portion of court-generated funds for prosecution purposes. Forty percent of the estimated $23 million that would be generated by Proviso 73.3 – about $9.2 million – would be distributed among South Carolina's 16 solicitor's offices on a per capita basis, meaning that those prosecuting crimes in the largest counties would receive the highest amounts. The 7th judicial circuit of Spartanburg and Cherokee counties is the state's fourth-largest. The remaining 60 percent of the $23 million would be divided among such criminal justice agencies as the Department of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Corrections, the State Law Enforcement Division, Highway Patrol, the Attorney General's Office and the state Judicial Department. The solicitor's offices would give back to the state's general fund the $4.1 million in state money that they are scheduled to receive in the fiscal year that begins July 1, and take the $9.2 million instead. Of the original $4.1 million budgetary allocation, more than $3 million would then go to Highway Patrol to fund a new class of troopers. The Judicial Department would receive the rest of the money. The extra $5 million-plus that the solicitor's offices would receive is intended to restore the money that they have lost in budget cuts over the past two fiscal years. The other agencies would keep their 2003-04 state budget allocations and add their shares of the new surcharge proceeds to make up for monies they have lost in past budget reductions. Budget debates The House of Representatives passed Proviso 73.3 by a margin of 95-18 earlier this month. The Senate Finance Committee also passed it with some changes. The Senate Finance Committee report of the general appropriations bill for fiscal year 2003-04 went to the floor of the full Senate, but Hawkins presented an amendment to delete Proviso 73.3 from it. The amendment passed by a margin of 35-8, with Spartanburg County Senators Glenn Reese (D) and Jim Ritchie (R) and Cherokee County Senator Harvey S. Peeler Jr. (R) joining Hawkins in opposition. The House version of Proviso 73.3 remained alive until last week, when Hawkins successfully made a point of order asserting that it was in violation of Senate rules because, he argued, no budget proviso may amend permanent law. Proviso 73.3 remains alive in the House-passed version of the general appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2003-04. A House-Senate conference committee that will be appointed this week will have to reconcile the issue along with all other differences between House and Senate versions of the budget. Toal said Proviso 73.3, which would restore $1.94 million to Judicial Department coffers, "could mean the difference between closing some courts and not closing them." "We've had a reduction in state general appropriations from $43 million to $32 million over the past three years," Toal said. "I simply can't run the court system on that deep a cut." Toal said she has avoided making "massive layoffs" and shutting down courts with the aid of court fees that the Legislature increased last year, but that has made up for only about half the budget losses. "We operate a barebones court system, and we have not increased the number of judges in seven years," the chief justice said. "This money is desperately needed." Hawkins is unmoved by such appeals. "We hear that kind of panic from every state agency. Believe me, it's not unique to law enforcement," he said. "The Republican-controlled House says 'we're against tax increases,' but they hide in the budget scores of fee increases on things like games and hunting licenses. It's very clever. I admire them for their ingenuity, but it's just a way to skirt the issue of taxes." Hawkins said he is not singling out Proviso 73.3 – he opposes all fee increases, he said. "They have started to call me Mr. Fee Killer in Columbia, and I will gladly accept that sobriquet," he said. Ariail, who prosecutes accused criminals in the 13th judicial circuit of Greenville and Pickens counties, said Proviso 73.3 was his idea. "Being against this is certainly not consistent with running for attorney general, because it hurts the Attorney General's Office and solicitors," Ariail said. (Hawkins dropped out of the 2002 race for the attorney general's office.) Gowdy said Hawkins "either does not understand the difference between a user fee and a tax, or he has chosen the ignore the difference." "This is a user fee for people who break the law," he said. "What's wrong with that?" Tom Langhorne can be reached at 562-7221 or at tom.langhorne@shj.com. |
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