The proposed bill updates current statutes regarding the collection of fees associated with defensive driving schools. Under the new law, the responsibility for collecting the court diversion fee, surcharge, and Defensive Driving School Fund fee would shift from the defensive driving schools to the court of record or a vendor contracted by the court. This change is reflected in the new language that specifies the court or vendor will collect these fees before or at the time an individual attends the driving school, and will transmit the surcharge to the State Treasurer and the Fund fee to the Supreme Court. Additionally, the bill makes several technical adjustments, including the removal of outdated language that previously required defensive driving schools to transmit fees directly to the courts. The old provisions that mandated the driving schools to handle these transactions are replaced with the new provisions that clarify the roles of the court and contracted vendors. The bill also specifies that any vendor processing payments cannot be affiliated with any defensive driving school, ensuring a separation of interests in the fee collection process.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 28-3396, 28-3397, 35-146, 35-147, 41-1730