Source: http://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_text.cfm?billdoc=sb522%20intr.htm&yr=2013&sesstype=RS&i=522
Timestamp: 2018-01-22 15:25:25
Document Index: 755443757

Matched Legal Cases: ['§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§50', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§8', '§50', '§8']

SB 522 Text
Introduced Version Senate Bill 522 History
sb522 intr
Senate Bill No. 522
(By Senators Laird, Palumbo, Kirkendoll, Cookman, Cann, Snyder and Fitzsimmons)
[Introduced March 14, 2013; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance .]
A BILL to amend and reenact §8-10-2a and §8-10-2b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §8-11-1 and §8-11-1a of said code; and to amend and reenact §50-3-2a of said code, all relating to the collection and processing of court costs, fines, forfeitures, penalties and collateral consequences of nonpayment or failure to appear; requiring certain collection processes occur after an appeal has concluded; reducing certain time requirements for notification to the Division of Motor Vehicles; requiring notice between thirty and ninety days to the Division of Motor Vehicles for failure to appear in certain situations and stipulating the subsequent suspension lasts until the citation is resolved satisfactorily; permitting tax refund withholding if certain amounts remain unpaid for a year or persons fail to appear for a year to municipal court; and providing for a fee on all municipal offenses to be paid to the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Fund and municipal administrative costs.
That §8-10-2a and §8-10-2b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; that §8-11-1 and §8-11-1a of said code be amended and reenacted; and that §50-3-2a of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
(a) A municipal court may accept credit cards in payment of all costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties. A municipal court may collect a substantial portion of all costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties at the time such the amount is imposed by the court so long as the court requires the balance to be paid within one hundred eighty days from the date of judgment and the expiration of any stay of execution and in accordance with a payment plan. Provided, That All costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed by the municipal court upon a nonresident of this state by judgment entered upon a conviction for a motor vehicle violation defined in section three-a, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code must be paid within eighty ninety days from the date of judgment. The payment plan shall specify: (1) The number of additional payments to be made; (2) the dates on which such payments and amounts shall be made; and (3) amounts due on such dates.
(b) If costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed by the municipal court for motor vehicle violations as defined in section three-a, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code are not paid within the time limits imposed pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, or if a person fails to appear or otherwise respond in court when charged with a motor vehicle violation as defined in section three-a, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code, the municipal court must notify the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles of such the failure to pay or failure to appear. Provided, That Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, the municipal court shall wait at least ninety thirty days from the date that all costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties are due in full or, for failure to appear or otherwise respond, ninety at least thirty but no more than ninety days from the date of such failure before notifying the Division of Motor Vehicles thereof.
(a) If costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed by the municipal court upon conviction of a person for a criminal offense as defined in section three-c, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code are not paid in full within one hundred eighty days of the judgment and the expiration of any stay of execution, the municipal court clerk or, upon a judgment rendered on appeal, the circuit clerk shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles of the failure to pay. Provided, That Notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, for residents of this state, the municipal court shall wait at least ninety thirty days from the date that all costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties are due in full before notifying the Division of Motor Vehicles. thereof: Provided, however, That At the time the judgment is imposed, the judge shall provide the person with written notice that failure to pay the same as ordered may result in the withholding of any income tax refund due the licensee and shall result in the suspension of the person's license or privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this state and that the suspension could result in the cancellation of, the failure to renew or the failure to issue an automobile insurance policy providing coverage for the person or the person's family: Provided further, Provided, That the failure of the judge to provide notice does not affect the validity of any a suspension of the person's license or privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this state. For purposes of this section, payment shall be is stayed during any period an appeal from the conviction which resulted in the imposition of costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties is pending.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the contrary, the notice of the failure to pay costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties may not be given where the municipal court, upon application of the person upon whom the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties were imposed filed prior to the expiration of the period within which these are required to be paid, enters an order finding that the person is financially unable to pay all or a portion of the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties. Provided, That Where the municipal court, upon finding that the person is financially unable to pay a portion of the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties, requires the person to pay the remaining portion, the municipal court shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles of the person's failure to pay if not paid within the period of time ordered by the court.
(c) If a person charged with a criminal offense fails to appear or otherwise respond in court, the municipal court clerk shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles of the failure to appear Provided, That notwithstanding any other provision of this code to the contrary, for residents of this state, the municipal court clerk shall wait at least ninety days from the date of the person's failure to appear or otherwise respond before notifying the Division of Motor Vehicles thereof. no sooner than thirty days after but before ninety days after the scheduled date to appear unless the person sooner appears or otherwise responds in court to the satisfaction of the court. Upon notice, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall suspend the person's driver's license or privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this state until such time that the person appears as required. final judgment in the case and, if a judgment of guilty, until all costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed are paid in full.
(d) On and after July 1, 2008, if the licensee fails to respond to the Division of Motor Vehicles order of suspension within ninety days of receipt of the certified letter, If the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed remain unpaid one year after a judgment has been entered or one year after an individual has failed to respond to a citation without subsequently appearing, the municipal court of original jurisdiction shall notify the Tax Commissioner that the licensee has failed to pay the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties assessed by the court or has failed to respond to the citation. The notice provided by the municipal court to the Tax Commissioner must include the licensee's social security number. The Tax Commissioner or his or her designee shall withhold from any personal income tax refund due and owing to a licensee the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties due to the municipality, the Tax Commissioner's administration fee for the withholding and any and all fees that the municipal court would have collected had the licensee appeared. Provided, That The Tax Commissioner's administration fee may not exceed $25 Provided, however, That but the Tax Commissioner may change this maximum amount limitation for this fee for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2008, by legislative rule promulgated in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. Provided further, That The administrative fees deducted shall be deposited in the special revolving fund hereby created in the State Treasury, which shall be designated as the Municipal Fines and Fees Collection Fund, and the Tax Commissioner shall may make such expenditures from the fund as he or she deems appropriate for the administration of this subsection. After deduction of the Tax Commissioner's administration fee, the Tax Commissioner shall remit to the municipality all remaining amounts withheld pursuant to this section and the municipal court shall distribute applicable costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties owed to the municipality, the Regional Jail Authority Fund, the Crime Victims Compensation Fund, the Community Corrections Fund, the Governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training law enforcement professional standards subcommittee or any other fund or payee that may be applicable. After the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties are withheld, the Tax Commissioner shall refund any remaining balance due the licensee. If the refund is not sufficient to cover all the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties being withheld pursuant to this section, the Tax Commissioner's administration fee shall be retained by the Tax Commissioner and the remaining money withheld shall be remitted by the Tax Commissioner to the municipality. The municipality shall then allocate the money so remitted to the municipality in the following manner: (1) Any Costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties due to the municipality; (2) seventy-five percent of the remaining balance shall be paid to the appropriate Regional Jail Authority Fund; (3) fifteen percent of the remaining balance shall be paid to the Crime Victims Compensation Fund; (4) six percent of the remaining balance shall be paid into to the Community Corrections Fund; and (5) the final four percent shall be paid to the Governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training. to the Governor's subcommittee law enforcement professional standards subcommittee. When the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties exceed the licensee's income tax refund, the Tax Commissioner shall withhold the remaining balance in subsequent years until such time as the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties owed are paid in full. The Tax Commissioner shall remit the moneys that he or she collects to the appropriate municipality no later than July 1 of each year. If the municipal court or the municipality subsequently determines that any such costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties were erroneously imposed, the municipality shall promptly notify the Tax Commissioner. If the refunds have not been withheld and remitted, the Tax Commissioner may not withhold and remit payment to the municipality and shall so inform the municipality. If the refunds have already been withheld and remitted to the municipality, the Tax Commissioner shall so inform the municipality. In either event, all refunds for erroneously imposed costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties shall be made by the municipality and not by the Tax Commissioner.
(e) Rules and effective date. -- The Tax Commissioner may promulgate such rules as may be useful or necessary to carry out the purpose of this section and to implement the intent of the Legislature, to be effective on July 1, 2008. Rules shall be promulgated in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
(f) On or before July 1, 2005, the municipal court may elect to reissue notice as provided in subsections (a) and (c) of this section to the Division of Motor Vehicles for persons who remain noncompliant Provided, That the person and was convicted or failed to appear on or after January 1, 1993. If the original notification cannot be located, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall accept an additional or duplicate notice from the municipal court clerk.
§8-11-1. Ordinances to make municipal powers effective; penalties imposed under judgment of mayor or police court or municipal judge; right to injunctive relief; right to maintain action to collect fines; additional assessment of costs.
(a) To carry into effect the powers and authority conferred upon any a municipality or its governing body by the provisions of this chapter, or any past or future act of the Legislature of this state, the governing body has plenary power and authority to:
(1) Make and pass all needful ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions rules and regulations and rules not contrary to the Constitution and laws of this state; and
(2) Prescribe reasonable penalties for violation of its ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions rules and regulations, and rules in the form of fines, forfeitures and confinement in the county or regional jail or the place of confinement in the municipality, if there is one, regional jail for a term not exceeding thirty days.
(b) The fines, forfeitures and confinement shall be recovered, imposed or enforced under the judgment of the mayor of the municipality or the individual lawfully exercising the mayor's functions, or the police court judge or municipal court judge of a city, if there is one, and may be suspended upon reasonable conditions as may be imposed by the mayor, other authorized individual or judge.
(c) Any A municipality may also maintain a civil action in the name of the municipality in the circuit court of the county in which the municipality or the major portion of the territory of the municipality is located to obtain an injunction to compel compliance with, or to enjoin a violation or threatened violation of, any an ordinance of the municipality. and The circuit court has jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. A certified transcript of a judgment for a fine rendered by a municipal court may be filed in the office of the clerk of a circuit court and docketed in the judgment lien book kept in the office of the clerk of the county commission in the same manner and with the same effect as the filing and docketing of a certified transcript of judgment rendered by a magistrate court as provided for in section two, article six, chapter fifty of this code. The judgment shall include costs assessed against the defendant.
(d) In addition to any other costs which may be lawfully imposed, an additional cost shall be imposed in an amount of not less than $42 for a traffic offense constituting a moving violation, any offense regardless of whether the penalty for the violation provides for a period of incarceration. and for any other offense for which the ordinance prescribing the offense provides for a period of incarceration. Of the $42 imposed as an additional cost, $2 are administrative costs to be retained by the municipality and $40 shall be paid into the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility development Authority Fund in the State Treasury in accordance with section one-a of this article.
(e) Execution shall be by fieri facias issued by the clerk of the circuit court in the same manner as writs are issued on judgments for a fine rendered by circuit courts or other courts of record under the provisions of section eleven, article four, chapter sixty-two of this code.
The clerk of each municipal court or other person designated to receive fines and costs shall, at the end of each month, pay into the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Fund in the State Treasury an amount equal to $40 of the costs collected in each proceeding involving a traffic offense constituting a moving violation regardless of whether the penalty for the violation provides for a period of incarceration. or any other offense for which the ordinance prescribing the offense provides for a period of incarceration: Provided, That In a case where a defendant has failed to pay all costs assessed against him or her, no payment may be made to the Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority Fund until the defendant has paid all costs which, when paid, are available for the use and benefit of the municipality.
ARTICLE 3. COSTS, FINES AND RECORDS.
(b) Unless otherwise required by law, a magistrate court may collect a portion of any costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties at the time the amount is imposed by the court so long as the court requires the balance to be paid in accordance with a payment plan which specifies: (1) The number of payments to be made; (2) the dates on which the payments are due; and (3) the amounts due for each payment. The written agreement represents the minimum payments and the last date those payments may be made. The obligor or the obligor's agent may accelerate the payment schedule at any time by paying any an additional portion of any the costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties.
(c) (1) If any the costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties imposed by the magistrate court in a criminal case are not paid within one hundred eighty days from the date of judgment and the expiration of any stay of execution, the magistrate court clerk or, upon judgment rendered on appeal, the circuit clerk shall notify the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles of the failure to pay. Provided, That In a criminal case in which a nonresident of this state is convicted of a motor vehicle violation defined in section three-a, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code, the appropriate clerk shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles of the failure to pay within eighty ninety days from the date of judgment and expiration of any stay of execution. Upon notice, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall suspend any privilege the person defaulting on payment may have to operate a motor vehicle in this state, including any driver's license issued to the person by the Division of Motor Vehicles, until all costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties are paid in full. The suspension shall be imposed in accordance with the provisions of section six, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code. Provided, That any A person who has had his or her license to operate a motor vehicle in this state suspended pursuant to this subsection and his or her failure to pay is based upon inability to pay, may, if he or she is employed on a full- or part-time basis, petition to the circuit court for an order authorizing him or her to operate a motor vehicle solely for employment purposes. Upon a showing satisfactory to the court of inability to pay, employment and compliance with other applicable motor vehicle laws, the court shall issue an order granting relief.
(d) (1) If a person charged with any a criminal violation of this code fails to appear or otherwise respond in court, the magistrate court shall notify the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles thereof within ninety days of the scheduled date to appear unless the person sooner appears or otherwise responds in court to the satisfaction of the magistrate. Upon notice, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall suspend any privilege the person failing to appear or otherwise respond may have to operate a motor vehicle in this state, including any driver's license issued to the person by the Division of Motor Vehicles, until final judgment in the case and, if a judgment of guilty, until all costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties imposed are paid in full. The suspension shall be imposed in accordance with the provisions of section six, article three, chapter seventeen-b of this code.
(2) In addition to the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, if a person charged with any a hunting violation described in chapter twenty of this code fails to appear or otherwise respond in court, the magistrate court shall notify the Director of the Division of Natural Resources of the failure thereof within fifteen days of the scheduled date to appear unless the person sooner appears or otherwise responds in court to the satisfaction of the magistrate. Upon notice, the Director of the Division of Natural Resources shall suspend any privilege the person failing to appear or otherwise respond may have to hunt in this state, including any hunting license issued to the person by the Division of Natural Resources, until final judgment in the case and, if a judgment of guilty, until all costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties imposed are paid in full.
(3) In addition to the provisions of subdivision (1) of this subsection, if a person charged with any a fishing violation described in chapter twenty of this code fails to appear or otherwise respond in court, the magistrate court shall notify the Director of the Division of Natural Resources of the failure thereof within fifteen days of the scheduled date to appear unless the person sooner appears or otherwise responds in court to the satisfaction of the magistrate. Upon notice, the Director of the Division of Natural Resources shall suspend any privilege the person failing to appear or otherwise respond may have to fish in this state, including any fishing license issued to the person by the Division of Natural Resources, until final judgment in the case and, if a judgment of guilty, until all costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties imposed are paid in full.
(f) (1) If all costs, fines, fees, forfeitures, restitution or penalties imposed by a magistrate court and ordered to be paid are not paid within one hundred eighty days from the date of judgment and the expiration of any stay of execution, the clerk of the magistrate court shall notify the prosecuting attorney of the county of nonpayment and provide the prosecuting attorney with an abstract of judgment. The prosecuting attorney shall file the abstract of judgment in the office of the clerk of the county commission in the county where the defendant was convicted and in any county wherein the defendant resides or owns property. The clerks of the county commissions shall record and index the abstracts of judgment without charge or fee to the prosecuting attorney and when so recorded, the amount stated to be owing in the abstract shall constitute constitutes a lien against all property of the defendant.
(16) Other costs, if any; and
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide additional revenue to the regional jails, make certain court costs are consistent and reduce certain waiting times regarding collection of fees.