Subcommittee adopts amendment and advances bill to update clerks’ fees for inflation

Representative Smith presented CS for HB 759, describing it as an update to the clerks’ fee schedule to account for inflation without changing base fees. "By Florida statute, we determine the fee for service fee schedule ... Those fees have not been updated since 2008," Representative Smith said, and he described an amendment that removes an automatic three-year assessment and instead requires the Office of Economic and Demographic Research to prepare a report for the Legislature to consider.

The sponsor said the bill applies a Consumer Price Index adjustment to bring listed fees into line with 2019 prices and that the proposal would not change the base statutory fees. He told the committee that clerks’ fee-for-service operations are losing money and that counties have had to fill shortfalls: "when you have a fee for service business operation that's losing $75,000,000 and counties are having to go to other taxes to fill in that hole," Representative Smith said.

A technical amendment (barcode 793397) was explained by the sponsor and adopted by voice vote without recorded opposition. Multiple clerks and association representatives waived in support, including Jason Welty (Clerks Corporation), Sarah Sanders Bremer (Clerks of Court Association), Tara Green (Clay County clerk), and others who spoke or were recognized.

Committee debate included support from Representative Gottlieb, who said the bill was a step forward though he would prefer a more aggressive update, and Representative Smith closed the item emphasizing statewide impact. The roll call recorded 11 yays and 1 nay; the bill was reported favorably out of the subcommittee.

Why it matters: The measure updates fee schedules that many county clerks rely on for court operations and seeks to prevent counties from subsidizing fee-for-service functions with other taxes. The amendment changes the process for automatic assessment to a legislative decision informed by a state economic report.

Next steps: The bill was reported favorably from subcommittee and will continue through the House committee process.