In specified Franklin County cases, a docket fee (called a solicitor’s fee) must be assessed and collected, with monthly distribution rules and limited waiver/remission.
(a) In all juvenile, traffic, criminal, and quasi-criminal cases in the juvenile, district, circuit, and municipal courts in Franklin County, a docket fee, hereinafter referred to as a solicitor’s fee, shall be assessed in each case. The fees, when collected, shall be distributed monthly as follows: One dollar ($1) of the fees assessed in each case shall be distributed to the office of the Circuit Clerk in Franklin County and the remainder to the Solicitor’s Fund or District Attorney’s Fund in the county or to the fund that may be hereafter prescribed by law for the solicitor’s fee. The solicitor’s fee shall be in an amount equal to all docket fees or court costs which are assessed upon an adjudication of guilt in a criminal case and distributed to the Fair Trial Tax Fund. The solicitor’s fee provided in this section is imposed pursuant to the authority granted in Amendment 418 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, now appearing as Official Recompilation of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, Local Amendments, Franklin County, Section 1, as amended, which authorizes the Legislature to fix, alter, and regulate the costs of court in Franklin County. (b) The solicitor’s fee shall be collected in all criminal cases where the defendant is adjudged guilty, a bond forfeited, a penalty imposed, or where there is issued any alias or capias warrant of arrest. The solicitor’s fee shall be in addition to and not in lieu of any other fees or costs. The solicitor’s fee shall not be waived or remitted unless the defendant proves to the reasonable satisfaction of the sentencing judge that the defendant is not capable of paying the fee within the reasonably foreseeable future. (c) The solicitor’s fee may be expended, as the district attorney sees fit, for the payment of any and all expenses incurred by the district attorney for law enforcement and in the discharge of the duties of the office. That portion of the fees earmarked for the office of the Circuit Clerk of Franklin County may be expended at the request of the circuit clerk for any lawful purpose. (d) This section shall be effective June 13, 2007. Any fees collected under this section after June 13, 2007, are ratified and confirmed.