The Scottish Government has been urged to carefully consider if proposed changes to criminal legal aid can be improved.
Ministers have put forward legislation that would mean people with a disposal income of £68 a week or more would pay a financial contribution towards criminal legal aid.
The Scottish Government believes the measure could save £3.9 million a year from the legal aid budget, with MSPs on Holyrood's Justice Committee backing in principle the proposals in the Scottish Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance Bill.
Committee convener Christine Grahame said: "While the Justice Committee supports the general principles of the Bill, we have made a number of recommendations we expect the Scottish Government to consider carefully to improve this proposed legislation."
The Scottish Government has said about 80% of people receiving legal aid would continue to pay nothing and that the Bill would end a situation where contributions are collected for civil cases but not for criminal cases.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill has stated that it is "right and proper that those who can afford to pay towards the cost of their legal defence costs do so".
Members of the Justice Committee said they are "not opposed in principle" to people contributing towards their criminal legal aid. But they stressed that such a system "must be proportionate to the means of the individual and be sufficiently flexible to take into account particular personal circumstances".
In their report, the MSPs said it is "important that there should be no incremental movement towards an ever wider category of people falling within the contributory net".
They also pointed out that in civil cases people could recover their expenses if they are successful and urged Mr MacAskill to look at whether people could recoup criminal legal aid contributions if they are acquitted.
