HB113 Alabama 2023 Session

Summary

Primary Sponsor

Danny CrawfordRepresentative

Republican

Session

Regular Session 2023

Title

Relating to Limestone County; to establish a service of process fee for the service or attempted service of documents by the Limestone County Sheriff's Office in the civil division of the circuit and district courts; to establish a fingerprint fee for fingerprinting certain persons and a local background check fee; to ratify and confirm fingerprint fees and local background check fees collected prior to the effective date of this act; and to provide for a booking fee to be imposed on each person booked into the Limestone County Jail and subsequently convicted of a crime, the collection of the fees, and for the distribution of the revenues derived from the fees.

Summary

HB113 would create new local fees in Limestone County for service of process, fingerprinting and local background checks, plus a booking fee for jail inmates, with the money going to the sheriff's fund for law enforcement.

What This Bill Does

It adds service-of-process fees for sheriff's office delivery of documents in civil and out-of-state matters (up to $50 in-county, up to $75 out-of-state, set by the sheriff with county commission approval). It adds fingerprint and local background check fees (fingerprinting up to $60 for non-law-enforcement purposes; local background checks up to $20) collected by the sheriff and deposited to the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Fund. It creates a $30 booking fee for each person booked into the Limestone County Jail who is convicted, collected like court costs, and used for sheriff’s department salaries and operations. The act also exempts the district attorney, law enforcement, grand juries, and Limestone County from these fees, and ratifies related fees collected before the act.

Who It Affects

• Civil litigants and other parties involved in Limestone County court cases would pay new service-of-process fees (up to $50 or $75) to have documents served.
• Residents who get fingerprinted or request local background checks—and individuals who are booked and later convicted—would pay fingerprint fees up to $60, local background check fees up to $20, and a $30 booking fee; revenues go to the Sheriff’s Fund; exemptions apply for certain officials.

Key Provisions

• Establishes service-of-process fees in Limestone County: up to $50 for in-county personal service and up to $75 for matters outside the state; amount set by the sheriff with county commission approval; collected by the court clerk and distributed to the Sheriff’s Fund.
• Imposes fingerprint fee up to $60 for non-law-enforcement fingerprinting and a local background check fee up to $20; fees set by the sheriff with county commission approval; funds go to the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Fund; exemptions apply for law enforcement and pistol permits.
• Creates a $30 booking fee on individuals booked and convicted in Limestone County Jail; collected like court costs and deposited to the Sheriff’s Fund for salaries, training, and operations; the sheriff may withhold funds during incarceration to cover the fee and recover them if the conviction is dismissed or acquitted.
• Funds in the Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Fund may be used at the sheriff’s discretion for law enforcement purposes and do not replace other budgeted funds; end-of-year funds do not revert to the county general fund.
• Exempts the district attorney, law enforcement, grand juries, and Limestone County from paying these fees; pre-existing actions and fees are ratified; act becomes effective three months after passage.

AI-generated summary using openai/gpt-5-nano on Feb 22, 2026. May contain errors — refer to the official bill text for accuracy.