New law allows SC to tap trust funds

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio has signed into law a measure allowing the Superior Court to make money out of the trust funds temporarily entrusted to the judiciary and to impose additional fines on people convicted of a criminal offense in an effort to ease pressure on government coffers.

Public Law 11-105, which was requested by the Superior Court, now passes some of the financial costs to individuals who use the services of the court that are currently financed by taxpayers’ money, according to the governor.

Offered by Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, the new law is intended to boost the court’s resources amid shrinking appropriations from the government due to continuous financial difficulties.

It authorizes the court to deposit trust funds in the banks at no cost to the government to earn interests to pay itself while under its supervision, as well as to assess fines ranging from $10 for infraction to as much as $400 for felony on those with criminal conviction.

During deliberation of the bill by the Legislature, Hofschneider justified the proposal as a means to assist the Superior Court in dealing with the budget reduction while operational costs continue to balloon.

He said the obligations of the court to administer trust funds entail additional expenditures to the government and should be offset through interest-bearing accounts.

The judicial branch is prohibited by law to earn money from the trust funds, which include moneys awaiting disbursement in cases of heirship, estate settlement and others.

But it spends portion of its budget to administer the accounts which are not earning interests. While recipients of these moneys are not entitled to payment of such interest, it burdens taxpayers who do not benefit at all from the program.

At present, the court is in possession of more than half-a-million dollars worth of trust funds.

In imposing additional fines, the judiciary has decided to set aside these revenues for the Judicial Building Fund Account to repay loans from constructing the new Guma Hustisia complex in Susupe.

Under the new law, this fee is assessed in all convictions, regardless of whether a fine was imposed as part of the defendant’s sentence, except in the case of uncontested traffic infractions that is paid on or before the court appearance date where it will be waived.

Failure to pay these fines carries court sanction on the initial judgment or sentence, according to a provision of the law.

In sponsoring the measure, Hofschneider noted rising costs incurred by the court due to the mounting need for appointment of counsel for indigent persons, as well as interpreters to assist lawyers in communicating with their clients during trials.