H.B. 49 Summary

• Requires certain fees and costs collected by non-county-operated municipal courts that appoint counsel for indigent defendants outside the standard state public defender system to be transmitted to the municipal treasurer instead of the state.

• Fees and costs affected include: application fees for indigent defense (section 120.36), bail surcharges (section 2937.22), criminal and traffic conviction costs (sections 2949.091 and 2949.094), and driver's license reinstatement fees (sections 4507.45 and 4510.22).

• These locally-collected funds must be deposited into separate municipal accounts designated specifically to compensate counsel appointed by the court for representing indigent defendants.

• Applies only to municipal courts that are not county-operated and that use alternative indigent defense appointment methods rather than those provided in section 120.33 of the Revised Code.

• Changes the distribution mechanism for OVI-related fines under section 4511.19, allowing courts meeting the criteria to direct a portion of fines to the municipal treasurer for indigent defense compensation instead of the state indigent defense support fund.