Waiving Court Costs

Following up on Jeff’s post yesterday about court costs and traffic citations, today’s post is about a trial judge’s authority to waive court costs. Under G.S. 7A-304, certain court costs “shall be assessed” in every criminal case where a defendant is convicted or enters a plea of guilty or nolo contendere. Under the pre-2011 version of that law, a trial court’s general authority to waive court costs was unclear, but the law explicitly provided that costs would only be assessed in active punishment cases when the judgment said so. In the 2011 budget act, the General Assembly addressed the waiver issue, saying in amended G.S. 7A-304(a) that the trial court could not waive costs unless it made a written finding of just cause to grant such a waiver. S.L. 2011-145, sec 15.10.(a). That change was incorporated into the boilerplate criminal judgment forms from the Administrative Office of the Courts as a check box for indicating that “[t]he court finds just cause to waive costs.” The 2011 legislation also removed the special rule for active sentences, thereby bringing them within the rule applicable to all cases: no waiver of costs absent a finding of just cause. The change was made effective “July 1, 2011.” Id., sec. 32.6. Generally speaking, when the legislature changes cost provisions the court system applies the change to all costs assessed on or after the effective date, regardless of the offense date of the offense being sentenced. That interpretation does not run afoul of Ex Post Fact Clause [...]