RESOLUTION
NO. R-20-192
CITY HALL: July 2, 2020
BY:

COUNCILMEMBER GISLESON PALMER

SECONDED BY:
A RESOLUTION to unburden New Orleanians from Criminal District Court conviction
fees and bail bond fees historically used to fund the court, in order to keep money where it
belongs, in the pockets of some of our City’s poorest families and within the communities that
need the money most.
WHEREAS, ever since the federal courts ruled the fines and fees practices of New
Orleans Criminal District Court unconstitutional in August 2018, the City has consistently
replaced the funds the court would lose from collection of these fines and fees, and thus has
demonstrated a commitment to sustained funding of our court system that does not depend on
fines and fees; and
WHEREAS, the practice of funding government operations through collecting bail bond
fees and conviction fees exacerbates racial and economic disparities; and
WHEREAS, historically $1.95 million dollars has been extracted annually from mostly
poor and black families to fund the Criminal District Court operations, according to the Vera
Institute; and
WHEREAS, the state legislature recently passed House Bill 842, directing money
collected from conviction fees and bail bond fees to be disbursed to the City of New Orleans in an
attempt to resolve the Criminal District Court’s unconstitutional conflict of interest in imposing
and collecting this money to fund itself; and

 WHEREAS, the City of New Orleans does not wish to continue extracting this money out
of the community and wishes families to keep every dollar possible, particularly in light of a
potentially declining economy in the wake of COVID-19; NOW, THEREFORE
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, That
The City Council will decline to accept the money disbursed to the City of New Orleans from the
special escrow account established by HB 842 and will reject funding from bail bond fees; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the City Council will encourage the Criminal
District Court judges to decline to assess conviction fees and decline to collect said fees for
deposit into the special escrow account established by HB 842; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, to incentivize the Criminal District Court to exercise
their discretion to refrain from assessing conviction fees, the City Council will deduct $2 for
every $1collected in the special escrow account from the Criminal District Court’s annual
disbursement of City funding; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That for any funds collected in the special escrow
account, the City Council will direct the Criminal District Court to return the funds to the
individuals from whom the money was collected.
THE FOREGOING RESOLUTION WAS READ IN FULL, THE ROLL WAS
CALLED ON THE ADOPTION THEREOF, AND RESULTED AS FOLLOWS:
YEAS:
NAYS:
ABSENT:
AND THE RESOLUTION WAS ADOPTED.