A new law will allow Bucks and other counties to recoup a criminal laboratory user fee currently imposed on defendants.
Langhorne-based State Rep. Frank Farry (R) championed the Act 112 of 2013, previously House Bill 1274. The bill was signed into law last week by Governor Tom Corbett.
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“This new law serves to level the playing field by giving all counties with crime labs access to much-needed funding to support their operations, shifting the burden of these costs away from the taxpayers to those who necessitate such expenses by committing a crime,” Farry said.
In Bucks County alone, early estimates show the county crime lab could be reimbursed between $150,000 and $300,000.
The law allows 2A Class Counties that operate their own crime lab receive reimbursement. Bucks County is a 2A Class county and operates a county crime lab in Ivyland.
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“In counties that do not operate their own criminal laboratory, the fees imposed on defendants will be deposited into the Criminal Laboratory User Fee Fund for use by the Pennsylvania State Police criminal laboratories,” according to a press release.
Previous to House Bill 1274 passing, labs in counties that were of any other class than first and second would no benefit from the criminal laboratory user fee. Many larger counties like Bucks have crime labs, but smaller counties use Pennsylvania State Police crime labs, which were eligible to receive money from the court fee.
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“We are seeing a growth in the number of individuals who are driving impaired or committing other crimes while under the influence of designer drugs,” District Attorney David Heckler said. “This means we constantly have to update our testing procedures, which is expensive. This bill appropriately ensures that those costs are borne by perpetrators of crime, not taxpayers.”
The amount of cases processed by the county crime lab has grown in recent years.
Farry told LevittownNow.com the bill will help the county save money and reduce the burden put on taxpayers by crime lab costs.
