KRS 27A.630: Access to Justice Fee -- Deposit in State Treasury -- Distribution of fees

collected -- Funding of legal services for children.

(1) Upon receipt of notice of designation of an agency by the circuit clerk, there shall

be added to the filing fee in all civil actions filed in Circuit Court the sum of twenty

dollars ($20), and to all civil actions filed in District Court, the sum of ten dollars

($10). No fee shall be charged for actions filed in neglect and dependency cases.

This fee shall be designated as the Access to Justice Fee, and shall be charged at the

time of filing of the first papers in the action.

(2) All fees collected pursuant to subsection (1) of this section during each month shall

be placed in the general fund of the State Treasury, and app ropriated in accordance

with subsection (3) of this section. The clerks shall make a full report with the

payment and receive a receipt for all payments.

(3) Fees collected shall be distributed monthly to the designated agencies on a pro rata

basis, utilizing an allocation formula that distributes funds for each judicial district

served, according to the proportion of the number of residents of that judicial

district whose incomes are less than the official United States federal poverty

guidelines, based on latest published United States census data, as a percentage of

the total number of these residents in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. These funds

shall be used by the designated agency to carry out the duties prescribed in KRS

27A.610.

(4) All unused or unc ommitted funds received by a designated agency during its fiscal

year shall be returned by the designated agency to the State Treasury, to be

redistributed in the following calendar quarter to operating designated agencies in

accordance with administrative regulations promulgated by the Administrative

Office of the Courts.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) to (4) of this section, an amount

not to exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) from the fee imposed under

subsection (1) of this section shall be appropriated to organizations that specialize

in providing legal representation and services to children.