WEST virginia legislature
2021 regular session
Introduced
House Bill 2910
By Delegates Foster, Kimble, Haynes, Wamsley, Kessinger, Espinosa, Kimes, Hardy and Crouse
[Introduced March 04, 2021; Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact §50-1-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the allocation of magistrates serving in each county and provided for adjustment of those numbers of magistrates every 10 years following the census.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. COURTS AND OFFICERS.
§50-1-2. Number of magistrates.
(a) The number of magistrates to be elected in each county of this state shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(b) The number of magistrates serving in each county of the state shall comport with the numbers certified by the Supreme Court of Appeals to the ballot commissioners of each county on or before January 31, 2000, for purposes of the primary and general elections to be held in the year 2000. For all elections after January 1, 2022, the number of magistrates serving in each county of the state shall comport with the numbers established by this section.
(c)(1) The Legislature
finds that there exists among the various counties large and unwarranted
disparities of caseload between the magistrate courts. The Legislature
further finds that the disparity causes an inequity with regard to magistrate
court resources and the ability of the courts to effectively meet the needs of
the citizens of this state who need to avail themselves of this judicial
resource. The Legislature further finds that the system currently in place for
allocating magistrate court resources which has been in effect since the year
1991 produces certain anomalies which cause quadrennial reallocation of magistrate
resources based upon said anomalies which in turn cause a waste of funds,
inequitable workloads, unnecessary shifting of resources and confusion among
the various counties.
(2) The office of
Legislative Services is hereby directed to undertake a comprehensive study of
the magistrate courts of the various counties to determine, among other things,
the work performed by various personnel in the magistrate court system, how
work time is spent by said employees and to report its findings no later than December
10, 2001, to the joint standing committee on the judiciary In order to be
fair and equitable in the distribution of such magistrates, magistrates shall
be allocated utilizing the following formula:
(A) Each county shall be assigned one magistrate per every 16,500 population; but
(B) There shall be at least two magistrates allocated to each county.
(3) The division of
criminal justice and highway safety shall, in conjunction with the
administrative office of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, compile
for consideration by the Legislature statistical information and documentation
regarding caseloads, cases handled per year per magistrate, cases per county,
cases per circuit and provide to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of
the House of Delegates no later than the first day of the 2002 regular session
of the Legislature, their recommendations for improving the magistrate process,
better utilization of court resources, including, but not limited to,
categorizing the various types of cases heard in magistrate court and
developing a new weighted formula to evaluate types of cases by the amount of
time necessary to bring said cases to a resolution
(d) Notwithstanding the
other provisions of this section, the allowable number of magistrates allocated
to each county shall be adjusted every 10 years following the decennial census
of the United States, according to the varying population of each county
utilizing the above formula. serving the counties of Berkeley and
Nicholas on March 1, 2001, shall be increased by one in each county, effective
July 1, 2001. The initial appointment to the position shall be made in
accordance with the provisions of section six of this article
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish factors by which magistrates are allocated for each county and allow adjustment every 10 years following the census.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.