SB238 Summary

• Amends Section 12-19-310 of the Code of Alabama 1975 to allow circuit clerks to use money from the Circuit Clerk's Judicial Administration Fund to award merit and promotion raises to full-time employees of the clerk's office.

• Circuit clerks retain discretionary authority to determine how to use these funds, with the new provision being in addition to existing uses for salaries, benefits, and court operations expenses.

• The Circuit Clerk's Judicial Administration Fund receives one-sixth of docket fees collected in each county from civil cases ($45 per case, $15 for small claims) and criminal cases ($40 per case, $26 for traffic cases).

• All expenditures from the fund remain subject to state audit requirements and docket fees cannot be waived or remitted unless all docket fees associated with a case are waived or remitted.

• The act becomes effective October 1, 2017, upon passage and approval by the Governor.