Opinion ID: 2584072
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: KBI Laboratory Fees

Text: Goeller next argues that the district judge erred in assessing $450 in KBI lab fees, consisting of one $150 fee for the KBI's analysis of the methamphetamine, one for its analysis of the marijuana, and one for its analysis of Goeller's blood sample. The controlling version of K.S.A. 28-176 reads in material part: (a) Any person convicted . . . shall pay a separate court cost of $150 as a Kansas bureau of investigation laboratory analysis fee for each offense if forensic science or laboratory services are rendered or administered by the Kansas bureau of investigation in connection with the case. Goeller asserts that the legislature did not state explicitly whether the phrase each offense was meant to cover multiple counts in the same information and that the use of the phrase the case reflects a legislative intent that only one $150 KBI lab fee be charged in each case, regardless of the number of counts. Goeller claims his reading is consistent with K.S.A. 28-172a(c), which specifically states that the party to whom costs are assessed shall pay only one docket fee per case, even if the case includes multiple counts. This issue of first impression requires interpretation of a statute. Our standard of review is de novo. State v. Barnes, 275 Kan. 364, 368, 64 P.3d 405 (2003). Goeller's argument is unpersuasive. K.S.A. 28-172a(c)'s wording demonstrates that the legislature was fully aware how to craft a statute to provide for only one fee per case. For whatever reason, it chose not to draft K.S.A. 28-176 in that manner. The phrase for each offense is clear; each offense means each count on which Goeller was convicted. It matters not that multiple offenses were charged in one case. The district court did not err.