Courts in covered criminal cases must assess a fee against certain defendants, and local officials must collect and remit it to the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Commission.
§2264. Revenues; fees and costs of court A.(1) In all criminal cases prosecuted under state statutes, parish ordinances, or city ordinances in any mayor's, city, or district court of the state of Louisiana sitting within a parish which is now, or hereafter becomes, a part of the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Commission, there shall be assessed by the court, in addition to and separate from other costs, against every defendant who is convicted after trial, or who enters a plea of guilty or of nolo contendere, or who forfeits his bond, a fee in accordance with the following schedule: (a) Operating a vehicle while intoxicated and drug offenses--fifty dollars. (b) Crimes defined in Title 14 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950-- ten dollars. (c) Violations of the provisions of Title 32 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950, or of city or parish traffic ordinances-- ten dollars. (2) The fees described in Paragraph (1) shall form no part of any court fund. (3) The fees provided in Paragraph (1) shall be collected by the respective city marshals and sheriffs and shall be remitted to the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Commission on the first day of each month. (4) The revenue received from such fees by the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Commission shall be used for all necessary expenses of the commission and of the laboratory, and branch or satellite laboratories, including operating expenses, funds reserved for depreciation, capital expenses, and costs of constructing buildings together with maintenance thereof. The commission shall prepare an annual budget which shall be approved by at least a majority of the governing authorities of the parishes which the commission serves. If revenues from the fees collected are not sufficient to pay the costs incurred as approved by the governing authorities in the budget, each governing authority may pay from its general fund its pro rata share of the amount necessary to eliminate the deficit, based upon the ratio which the assessed valuation of property in that parish bears to the total assessed valuations of property in all of the parishes. B. The sheriff of each parish and each district attorney who represents one or more parishes within the area served by the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Commission may make a direct contribution from time to time to the North Louisiana Criminalistics Laboratory Commission, the sheriff from his salary fund and the district attorney from any funds available to defray expenses of his office, in order to assist in alleviating any deficit that may be existing in the operating funds of the laboratory commission. Acts 1981, No. 168, §1; Acts 1992, No. 814, §1; Acts 2001, No. 630, §§1 and 2.