{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-186.574","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 186.574","heading":"State traffic school for new drivers and for traffic offenders -- Fees -- Fee","body":"in lieu of court costs -- Procedures -- County attorney-operated traffic safety\nprogram.\n(1) The Transportation Cabinet shall establish a state traffic school for new d rivers and\nfor traffic offenders. The school shall be composed of uniform education and\ntraining elements designed to create a lasting influence on new drivers and a\ncorrective influence on traffic offenders. District Courts may in lieu of assessing\npenalties for traffic offenses, other than for KRS 189A.010, sentence offenders to\nstate traffic school and no other.\n(2) If a District Court stipulates in its judgment of conviction that a person attend state\ntraffic school, the court shall indicate this in the  space provided on the abstract of\nconviction filed with the Transportation Cabinet. Upon receipt of an abstract, the\nTransportation Cabinet, or its representative, shall schedule the person to attend\nstate traffic school. Failure of the person to attend a nd satisfactorily complete state\ntraffic school in compliance with the court order, may be punished as contempt of\nthe sentencing court. The Transportation Cabinet shall not assess points against a\nperson who satisfactorily completes state traffic school. However, if the person\nreferred to state traffic school holds or is required to hold a commercial driver's\nlicense, the underlying offense shall appear on the person's driving history record.\n(3) The Transportation Cabinet shall supervise, operate, and adm inister state traffic\nschool, and shall promulgate administrative regulations pursuant to KRS Chapter\n13A governing facilities, equipment, courses of instruction, instructors, and records\nof the program. In the event a person sentenced under subsection (1)  of this section\ndoes not attend or satisfactorily complete state traffic school, the Transportation\nCabinet may deny that person a license or suspend the license of that person until he\nreschedules attendance or completes state traffic school, at which ti me a denial or\nsuspension shall be rescinded.\n(4) Persons participating in the state traffic school as provided in this section shall pay a\nfee of fifteen dollars ($15) to defray the cost of operating the school, except that if\nenrollment in state traffic school is to satisfy the requirement of KRS 186.410(4)(c),\na fee shall not be assessed. Any funds collected pursuant to KRS 186.535(1) that are\ndedicated to the photo license account for use in the state driver education program\nmay be used for the purposes of state traffic school.\n(5) The following procedures shall govern persons attending state traffic school\npursuant to this section:\n(a) A person convicted of any violation of traffic codes set forth in KRS Chapters\n177, 186, or 189, and who is otherwise eligible, may in the sole discretion of\nthe trial judge, be sentenced to attend state traffic school. Upon payment of the\nfee required by subsection (4) of this section, and upon successful completion\nof state traffic school, the sentence to state traffic school shall be the person's\npenalty in lieu of any other penalty, except for the payment of court costs;\n(b) Except as provided in KRS 189.990(28), a person shall not be eligible to\nattend state traffic school who has been cited for a violation of KRS Cha pters\n177, 186, or 189 that has a penalty of mandatory revocation or suspension of\nan offender's driver's license;\n(c) Except as provided in KRS 189.990(28), a person shall not be eligible to\nattend state traffic school for any violation if, at the time of  the violation, the\nperson did not have a valid driver's license or the person's driver's license was\nsuspended or revoked by the cabinet;\n(d) Except as provided in KRS 189.990(28), a person shall not be eligible to\nattend state traffic school more than on ce in any one (1) year period, unless\nthe person wants to attend state traffic school to comply with the driver\neducation requirements of KRS 186.410; and\n(e) The cabinet shall notify the sentencing court regarding any person who was\nsentenced to attend st ate traffic school who was ineligible to attend state\ntraffic school. A court notified by the cabinet pursuant to this paragraph shall\nreturn the person's case to an active calendar for a hearing on the matter. The\ncourt shall issue a summons for the perso n to appear and the person shall\ndemonstrate to the court why an alternative sentence should not be imposed.\n(6) (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this subsection, a county attorney may\noperate a traffic safety program for traffic offenders prior to the adjudication\nof the offense.\n(b) Offenders alleged to have violated KRS 189A.010 or 304.39 -080, offenders\nholding a commercial driver's license under KRS Chapter 281A, or offenders\ncoming within the provisions of subsection (5)(b) or (c) of this section shall be\nexcluded from participation in a county attorney-operated program.\n(c) A county attorney that operates a traffic safety program:\n1. May charge a reasonable fee to program participants, which shall only\nbe used for payment of county attorney office operating expenses; and\n2. Shall, by October 1 of each year, report to the Prosecutors Advisory\nCouncil the fee charged for the county attor ney-operated traffic safety\nprogram and the total number of traffic offenders diverted into the\ncounty attorney-operated traffic safety program for the preceding fiscal\nyear categorized by traffic offense.\n(d) Each participant in a county attorney -operated traffic safety program shall, in\naddition to the fee payable to the county attorney, pay a twenty -five dollar\n($25) fee to the court clerk, which shall be paid into a trust and agency\naccount with the Administrative Office of the Courts and is to be used by the\ncircuit clerks to hire additional deputy clerks and to enhance deputy clerk\nsalaries.\n(e) Each participant in a county attorney -operated traffic safety program shall, in\naddition to the fee payable to the county attorney and the fee required by\nparagraph (d) of this subsection, pay a thirty dollar ($30) fee to the county\nattorney in lieu of court costs. On a monthly basis, the county attorney shall\nforward the fees collected pursuant to this paragraph to the Finance and\nAdministration Cabinet to be distributed as follows:\n1. Ten and eight-tenths percent (10.8%) to the spinal cord and head injury\nresearch trust fund created in KRS 211.504;\n2. Nine and one -tenth percent (9.1%) to the traumatic brain injury trust\nfund created in KRS 211.476;\n3. Five and eight-tenths percent (5.8%) to the special trust and agency\naccount set forth in KRS 42.320(2)(f) for the Department of Public\nAdvocacy;\n4. Five and seven-tenths percent (5.7%) to the crime victims compensation\nfund created in KRS 49.480;\n5. One and two -tenths percent (1.2%) to the Justice and Public Safety\nCabinet to defray the costs of conducting record checks on prospective\nfirearms purchasers pursuant to the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention\nAct and for the collection, testing, and storing of DNA samples;\n6. Sixteen and eight -tenths percent (16.8%) to the county sheriff in the\ncounty from which the fee was received;\n7. Nine and one -tenth percent (9.1%) to the county treasurer in the county\nfrom which the fee was received to be used by the fiscal court fo r the\npurposes of defraying the costs of operation of the county jail and the\ntransportation of prisoners;\n8. Thirty-three and two -tenths percent (33.2%) to local governments in\naccordance with the formula set forth in KRS 24A.176(5); and\n9. Eight and thre e-tenths percent (8.3%) to the Cabinet for Health and\nFamily Services for the implementation and operation of a telephonic\nbehavioral health jail triage system as provided in KRS 210.365 and\n441.048.","path":["KRS Chapter 186"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=49869","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:38Z","sha256":"80c0ab2a2256a3398ad4433e56960bb90f008722c1e26023c877cc57df945358","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-186.572","next":"us-ky/krs-186.575"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}