TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Dec 21, 2022

State Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, has filed a bill that would create a 180-day window for former incarcerated individuals to pay court restitution. In announcing the measure, Gardenhire said of newly released individuals: you are “wearing a big red letter on your forehead, and it’s hard to get a job. Nobody trusts you.” Then all of a sudden they have to start paying fines. “It just puts them further behind.” WKRN reports that fees and costs vary by case but generally run as low as a few hundred dollars to as high as $50,000 dollars. The bill currently has bipartisan support.