SB 872

This bill increases the general recording and filing fees charged by county

registers of deeds, increases the amount of the fees that counties must submit to the

Department of Administration for the land information program, and increases the

minimum grant amount DOA may award to counties for education and training

grants under the program.

Under current law, DOA directs and supervises the land information program

and serves as a state clearinghouse for access to land information. Under the land

information program, DOA provides technical assistance to state agencies and local

governmental units with land information responsibilities, reviews and approves

county plans for land records modernization, and provides aids to counties, derived

from recording fee revenues collected by counties, for land records modernization

projects.

Under current law, counties collect fees for recording or filing instruments that

are recorded or filed with a register of deeds. Currently, the general fee for recording

or filing an instrument is $30. Currently, a county must submit $15 of each $30

recording fee to DOA for the land information program, but the county may retain

$8 of the amount it would have been required to submit to DOA if the county meets

certain requirements, including establishing a land information office and council

and using the retained fees to develop, implement, and maintain a DOA-approved

countywide plan for land records modernization on the Internet.

The bill increases the general recording and filing fee from $30 to $45. The bill

also increases the amount of each fee that a county must submit to DOA from $15

to $30 and increases the amount the county may retain from $8 to $15 if the current

law requirements are met.

Under current law, DOA awards land information system base budget grants

to counties to enable county land information offices to develop, maintain, and

operate basic land information systems. Currently, the minimum amount of a grant

is $100,000 less the amount of certain fees retained by the county in the preceding

fiscal year. The bill increases that base amount to $175,000 less the retained fees.

Under current law, DOA may award a grant under the land information

program to any county in an amount not less than $1,000 per year to be used for the

training and education of county employees for the design, development, and

implementation of a land information system. The bill increases the minimum

training and education grant amount from $1,000 to $5,000.