An Act To Amend Certain Laws Affecting the Judicial Branch
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0892
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: MONAGHAN, HOBBINS, NOON
Amends: 4 MRSA §163, 4 MRSA §554, 14 MRSA §3147, 25 MRSA §3501, 29-A MRSA §2434

Legislative Document 
No. 892 
H.P. 611 
House of Representatives, March 12, 2015 
An Act To Amend Certain Laws Affecting the Judicial Branch 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative MONAGHAN of Cape Elizabeth. 
Cosponsored by Representatives: HOBBINS of Saco, McCREIGHT of Harpswell, NOON of 
Sanford. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  4 MRSA §163, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2007, c. 377, §2 and affected 
by §17, is further amended to read: 
1.  District Court funds.  Except as otherwise provided by law, all fines, forfeitures, 
surcharges, assessments and fees collected in any division of the District Court or by the 
violations bureau must be paid to the clerk of that District Court, who shall deposit them 
in a special account in a timely manner.  Once each month, the clerk shall remit the sums 
to the Treasurer of State, who shall credit them to the General Fund.  At the same time, 
the clerk shall remit the sums that have been collected in accordance with section 1057; 
Title 5, chapter 316-A; Title 7, section 3910-A; Title 17, section 1015; Title 29-A, section 
2411, subsection 7; former Title 34-A, section 1210-A, subsection 9; and Title 34-A, 
section 1210-B, subsection 6.  Funds received by the clerk as bail in criminal cases must 
be deposited daily in a special account.  The clerk shall deposit the funds in an interest-
bearing account unless the clerk determines that it is not cost-effective to do so.  Interest 
accrued in the account is the property of and accrues to the State.  The forfeiture and 
setoff of bail is governed as otherwise provided by law. 
The court shall file a monthly report with the State Auditor itemizing the amount of fines, 
surcharges and assessments imposed and to whom each is payable. 
Sec. 2.  4 MRSA §554, as amended by PL 1991, c. 132, §3, is further amended to 
read: 
§554.  Accounting by clerks 
Clerks of judicial courts shall account monthly under oath to the State Auditor for all 
fees received by them or payable to them by virtue of their office, except those portions 
of fees collected for passports and naturalization proceedings that are payable to the 
Federal Government, specify the items and pay the whole amount of the same to the 
Treasurer of State at such times and in such manner as the Chief Justice of the Superior 
Court or the Chief Justice's designee shall from time to time specify specifies. 
Sec. 3.  14 MRSA §3147, as enacted by PL 1987, c. 414, §2, is amended to read: 
§3147.  Payment by credit card 
The Judicial Department may implement a procedure for the payment of fines up to 
$500 by use of major credit cards and may assess a reasonable fee upon the defendant to 
cover any administrative expenses incurred in connection with the use of credit cards as a 
method of paying fines. 
Sec. 4.  25 MRSA §3501, as amended by PL 1983, c. 254, §1, is further amended 
to read: 
§3501.  Application of chapter 
This chapter shall apply applies to all personal property of which possession is 
transferred to a police department or other law enforcement agency of the State or any 
political subdivision thereof, under circumstances supporting a reasonable belief that such 
property was abandoned, lost or stolen, or otherwise illegally possessed, except property 
seized during search and retained and ultimately returned, destroyed or otherwise 
disposed of pursuant to a court order or some other law hereafter applicable to specific 
property or circumstance.  This chapter shall apply applies to personal property seized 
during search and retained which that is not offered or admitted as evidence and which 
that, after retention by a police department or other law enforcement agency, becomes 
abandoned.  This chapter does not apply to unclaimed personal property that has been 
confiscated at courthouses by judicial marshals.  Such property that remains unclaimed 
for more than 30 days may be disposed of under the direction of the State Court 
Administrator. 
Sec. 5.  29-A MRSA §2434, sub-§3, as enacted by PL 1993, c. 683, Pt. A, §2 and 
affected by Pt. B, §5, is amended to read: 
3.  Physical custody of license.  Unless the defendant appeals and a stay of execution 
of the suspension is granted, the court shall take physical custody of a license issued by 
this State or another state, foreign country or province if that person is residing or 
employed in this State.  The court may take a license issued by another state, foreign 
country or province if the person is not residing or employed in this State.  If the court is 
unable to take physical custody of the license at the time of sentencing, either because the 
suspension has been stayed pursuant to subsection 4 or for any other reason, the license is 
void at such time as is specified in the court order. 
SUMMARY 
This bill repeals a provision of law requiring the District Court to file a monthly 
report with the State Auditor regarding fines, surcharges and assessments imposed by the 
court and a provision of law requiring clerks of judicial courts accounting to the State 
Auditor for all fees received by them or payable to them to do so under oath.  It also 
removes the $500 limit on the amount of a fine a person may pay with a credit card.  It 
clarifies that if a driver’s license is suspended by order of the court for any conviction for 
operating under the influence or for any offense for which the court suspends a license or 
registration, and the defendant does not physically surrender the license in court, the 
license is still void, notwithstanding that it remains in the defendant’s possession.  It also 
permits the State Court Administrator to order the disposal or destruction of unclaimed 
property confiscated at courthouses by judicial marshals if the property remains 
unclaimed for more than 30 days.