What is your county charging for court costs on bond forfeitures? I saw that Harris County had supposely gone to just charging $8 as costs on a bond forfeiture, is that going on in other counties. Would appreciate some feedback. Thanks

Ours is around $355.

I haven't personally spoken to anyone in Harris County, but the change in course reportedly is a response to a spate of lawsuits across the state claiming that civil court costs cannot be assessed in a bond forfeiture proceeding because it is a criminal matter. We are one of the defendant counties. Currently, we collect normal civil court costs. Specifically, our county clerk collects all but the judicial support fee imposed by Gov't Code section 133.154, for a total of $220.00. Our district clerk collects all civil filing fees (I don't have a total at hand). We will see how the litigation shakes out.

If CCP Art. 17.02 requires a cash bond to be refunded to the defendant (after compliance and upon court order), wouldn't it be illegal for a clerk to accept defendant's signature applying the cash refund to pay his court costs/fines? Wouldn't the clerk have to first pay the defendant in order to comply with 17.02? Could he be given a check, then endorse it back to the clerk to pay fines? That way, there is a refund, and a separate transaction for the payment of fees/fines.

Also, doesn't a court also violate 17.02 when it applies (by court order with defendants' consent as part of a plea bargain) cash bonds on deposit to pay fines or restitution?