Brief⁽¹⁾

S.B. 465, as amended, concerns the amount of the penalty to be assessed against a person seeking to have an expired state warrant reissued. The bill would designate a charge of 10 percent of the amount of the warrant or $30, whichever is less. (The current penalty is 10 percent of the warrant or $15, whichever is more.)

Background

The bill was introduced by the Joint Committee on Special Claims Against the State. The Committee received several requests by claimants who argued that the face value of the expired warrant should be paid because the original warrant was canceled, not because of the negligence of the claimant, but because the warrant was never received. Administrative agencies are bound by the law to assess the penalty. The Committee concluded that, if the penalty were reduced to an amount more in line with the cost of reissuance, more people would accept the penalty, be paid in a timely fashion, and the Committee and the Legislature would be saved from having to hear and act on canceled warrants. Making the bill effective upon publication will expedite implementation of the amended charge.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.