Study: Court fees and costs are too high, rising too fast

"Illinois imposes a dizzying array of filing fees on civil litigants and court costs on defendants in criminal and traffic cases." So begins the executive summary of the Statutory Court Fee Task Force's June 1, 2016 report, available at http://www.illinoiscourts.gov/2016_Statutory_Court_Fee_Task_Force_Report.pdf.

The Statutory Court Fee Task Force was created pursuant to the Access To Justice Act (705 ILCS 95/25) to "conduct a thorough review of the various statutory fees imposed or assessed on criminal defendants and civil litigants." The task force was composed of members appointed by representatives of both political parties and all three branches of government. The group identified four key findings, which led to six recommendations "that collectively will simplify the imposition, collection, and distribution of assessments while making them more transparent, affordable, and fair."

The four key findings are that 1) as assessments have developed over time, they have become a "byzantine system that attempts to pass an increased share of the cost of court administration onto the parties to court proceedings," 2) court fees and fines constantly increase and are outpacing inflation, 3) assessments and their amounts varied widely across the state, even for the same types of proceedings, and 4) the cumulative impact of assessments imposes "severe and disproportionate impacts on low- and moderate-income Illinois residents." Find out more and read the task force recommendations in the December Illinois Bar Journal.