§ 32:57.1 — Failure to honor written promise to appear; penalty; disposition of fines

Louisiana § 32:57.1

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 32: Levees

Text

§57.1. Failure to honor written promise to appear; penalty; disposition of fines
A. Whenever an arrested person who was released on his written promise to appear
before a magistrate at the place and time specified in a summons described in R.S. 32:391(B)
fails to honor his written promise to appear, the magistrate or judge of the court exercising
jurisdiction may immediately forward to the Department of Public Safety and Corrections
notice of the failure to appear, with information necessary for identification of the arrested
person. Thereupon, unless the original charges have been disposed of, the Department of
Public Safety and Corrections shall immediately notify the arrested person by regular mail
and any available electronic communication that his operator's license may be suspended if
he fails to honor the written promise to appear or pay an appropriate fine for the offense
within one hundred eighty days after the date the notice was received. The Department of
Public Safety and Corrections shall send a second notice to the arrested person by regular
mail and any available electronic communication no later than one hundred twenty days after
the department receives notice from the court exercising jurisdiction of the pending
suspension of the operator's license of the arrested person.
B. Whenever the arrested person makes an appearance as required by Subsection A
of this Section or pays an appropriate fine for the offense committed, as determined by the
court, the prosecuting authority shall immediately notify the Department of Public Safety and
Corrections thereof through the same means as the original notification of the arrested
person's failure to appear. Upon such notification, and payment of one hundred dollars to
the department, if the operator's license of the arrested person was suspended pursuant to
Subsection A of this Section, the operator's license of the arrested person shall be released
from the pending suspension, renewed, or reissued for the purpose of this Section. This fee
may only be assessed once per summons as described in Subsection A of this Section.
Twelve dollars and fifty cents of any fine imposed by this Section shall be paid to the court
exercising jurisdiction, to be deposited in that court's criminal court fund and to be used in
the same manner as the other sums deposited in the fund.
C. If after sixty calendar days from the date of the notification issued by the
Department of Public Safety and Corrections as required in Subsection A of this Section the
arrested person has failed to comply, the fees provided for in this Section shall be considered
final delinquent debt.
D. The failure to appear due to incarceration shall be a valid defense for any
violation of this Section, if the arrested person provides evidence of incarceration to the court
pursuant to R.S. 15:714. The license shall be renewed and reissued without payment, all
failure to appear payments waived, and any other flags reported to the Department of Public
Safety and Corrections shall be resolved pursuant to statute.
E. All notices from the Department of Public Safety and Corrections described in
Subsections A and B of this Section shall include the following information: the summons
information that the person failed to appear on; the date of the failure to appear; and the
contact information and name of the court where the person needs to appear.

Legislative History

Added by Acts 1978, No. 301, §2. Amended by Acts 1980, No. 779, §1; Acts 1984, No. 763, §1; Acts 1988, No. 180, §1; Acts 1995, No. 114, §1; Acts 2003, No. 966, §1; Acts 2015, No. 414, §1; Acts 2018, No. 714, §1; Acts 2022, No. 436, §1.