Provides with respect to the collection of criminal court fines and fees

House Bill 153 enacts Louisiana Revised Statutes 15:571.11(P) to create a statutory prohibition against two specific collection practices related to criminal court fines and fees. The bill prohibits the referral of debts arising from criminal fines or conviction fees to the Department of Revenue's office of debt recovery for collection purposes. Additionally, the statute bars reporting such debts to credit bureaus or consumer reporting agencies. The mechanism is straightforward: the new provision operates as a blanket prohibition that overrides any other law permitting these collection and reporting activities for criminal financial obligations.

The practical effect of this legislation is to remove two enforcement tools previously available for collecting criminal court financial obligations. Courts and court personnel will no longer be able to refer delinquent criminal fines or conviction fees to the office of debt recovery, which means those debts will not be subject to the systematic collection processes administered by that state agency. Similarly, creditors or collection entities will be prohibited from reporting criminal fine debt to credit reporting agencies, meaning individuals with unpaid criminal financial obligations will not face damage to their credit scores or credit histories as a consequence of nonpayment. This distinction between criminal fines and other types of debt is significant for individuals with outstanding criminal court obligations.

This statute integrates into the existing framework of Louisiana's criminal court fine collection procedures found in Chapter 5 of Title 15 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes, which addresses the disposition of fines and forfeitures in criminal cases. The office of debt recovery referenced in the bill is an existing entity established within the Department of Revenue with general authority to collect delinquent debts owed to the state. By adding this restriction specifically to the fine disposition statute, the legislature has created a carve-out from the office of debt recovery's general collection authority, establishing that criminal financial obligations operate under distinct collection principles than other categories of state-owed debt. The prohibition as drafted applies to all criminal cases prosecuted under state law as well as prosecutions for parish ordinance violations.