Georgia CommonsSenate · Passed · 2025-2026 Regular Session
SB 317: Magistrate Court of Clinch County; assessment and collection of a technology fee; authorize
Last action May 11, 2026 · Effective Date
A Senate bill would let Clinch County's governing authority approve a technology fee of up to $5 on magistrate court filings, fines, and convictions to pay for court technology upgrades.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Enrolled version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
This bill authorizes the governing authority of Clinch County to adopt a resolution letting the clerk of the Magistrate Court of Clinch County charge a technology fee of up to $5.00. The fee could be assessed on every civil action filed, every estate filed, each conviction, as a surcharge on each fine, and on each affidavit filed except affidavits of indigency. The fee can only be charged once per party per case. The money collected must be used only for the court's technological needs, such as computer hardware and software, equipment maintenance, imaging and printing equipment, and digitizing court records. The clerk must remit the funds monthly to the county governing authority, which must keep them in a separate account (or a joint account with the probate court's technology fee if the two courts share a judge) and have the account audited annually.
What the bill does
- Authorizes Clinch County's governing authority to pass a resolution allowing a technology fee of up to $5.00 on magistrate court civil filings, estate filings, convictions, fines, and most affidavit filings.
- Limits the fee to being charged only once per party within any single action or proceeding.
- Restricts use of the collected funds to specific technology purposes: hardware, software, equipment leasing and maintenance, and digitizing court records.
- Requires the clerk to remit collected fees monthly to the county governing authority for deposit in a segregated account.
- Allows the magistrate court fee account to be combined with the probate court technology fee account if the two courts share a consolidated judge.
- Requires the county governing authority to audit the technology fee account annually.
Who it affects
People filing civil actions, estate cases, or affidavits in the Magistrate Court of Clinch County, defendants convicted in that court, the clerk of the magistrate court who collects the fee, and the Clinch County governing authority, which sets the fee amount and manages the funds.
Why it matters
People using the Clinch County magistrate court for lawsuits, estate filings, or facing fines could pay up to $5.00 more per case. In exchange, the county would gain a dedicated funding source for computer systems, digital record-keeping, and other technology upgrades in that court.
Key provisions
- Section 1(a) authorizes the county governing authority to set, by resolution, a technology fee not exceeding $5.00 on specified filings, convictions, and fines, capped at once per party per case.
- Section 1(a) excludes affidavits of indigency from the fee and lists the four permitted uses of the money, limited to computer and imaging equipment, software, and digitizing records.
- Section 1(b) requires the clerk to remit fees monthly to the county, requires a segregated account (or joint account with probate court fees under consolidated judgeships), and requires an annual audit.
- Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws.
From the bill
“Such technology fees shall be used exclusively to provide for technological needs of the Magistrate Court of Clinch County.”
“The magistrate court technology fee shall be assessed and collected not more than once per party within any one action or proceeding.”
Discussed in meetings (1)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House floor session, February 6, 2026 (legislative day 14)
From 0:54:42 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel · Confirmed by the 2026 House Journal, p. 430
Summary by Georgia Commons: The clerk read a committee recommendation to pass SB 317 and later identified it as a Clinch County bill on the uncontested local calendar. There was no separate presentation or debate. The House passed it with the other local bills in a single vote of 165 to 0.
Status timeline
- Effective Date
- Act 607
- Senate Date Signed by Governor (Senate)
- Senate Sent to Governor (Senate)
- House Passed/Adopted (House)
- House Third Readers (House)
- House Committee Favorably Reported (House)
- House Second Readers (House)
Show full history (13 actions)
- House First Readers (House)
- Senate Passed/Adopted (Senate)
- Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senate)
- Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
- Senate Hopper (Senate)
Sponsors
- Russ Goodman (R, SD-8)
- John Corbett (R, HD-174)
Votes
- Senate voteMarch 10, 2025
43 yea, 1 nay (3 not voting, 9 excused)
- House voteFebruary 6, 2026
165 yea, 0 nay (7 not voting, 5 excused)
Topics
- court fees
- Clinch County
- magistrate court
- local government
- court technology