The Police Training Fund was established to provide training for the law enforcement and corrections community of the state. Appropriations to this fund may be made from income derived from the imposition of surcharges on criminal convictions.

Last year, legislation was passed expanding the types of crimes for which a surcharge is imposed and increasing the amount of the surcharge applied. This surcharge is imposed on both state and municipal law violations.

Recently, concern was raised that the phrasing used in the legislation could be interpreted as requiring surcharges to be imposed on civil as well as criminal violations of the law. Additionally, it was argued that if a local government did not authorize the imposition of a surcharge, an entire ordinance could be found invalid rather than just the section imposing the fine.

House Bill 43 is a housecleaning measure to address these two concerns. First, the legislation clarifies that the surcharge will be imposed on a violation of a municipal ordinance that imposes a criminal penalty for its violation. Second, this legislation specifies that the municipality can not enforce (or collect) a penalty for a violation unless the municipality also authorizes the imposition of a surcharge on the violation.