Senate Bill No. 566
(By Senators Laird, Kessler and Oliverio)
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[Introduced February 12, 2010; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §62-11A-1a of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to criminal procedure;
and allowing certain offenders to participate in a community
work program in lieu of the payment of any fines or court
costs.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §62-11A-1a of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11A. RELEASE FOR WORK AND OTHER PURPOSES.
§62-11A-1a. Other sentencing alternatives.
(a) Any person who has been convicted in a circuit court or in
a magistrate court under any criminal provision of this code of a
misdemeanor or felony, which is punishable by imposition of a fine
or confinement in the county or regional jail or a state
correctional facility, or both fine and confinement, may, in the discretion of the sentencing judge or magistrate, as an alternative
to the sentence imposed by statute for the crime, be sentenced
under one of the following programs:
(1) The weekend jail program under which persons would be
required to spend weekends or other days normally off from work in
jail;
(2) The work program under which sentenced persons would be
required to spend the first two or more days of their sentence in
jail and then, in the discretion of the court, would be assigned to
a county agency to perform labor within the jail, or in and upon
the buildings, grounds, institutions, bridges, roads, including
orphaned roads used by the general public and public works within
the county. Eight hours of labor are to be credited as one day of
the sentence imposed. Persons sentenced under this program may be
required to provide their own transportation to and from the work
site, lunch and work clothes; or
(3) The community service program under which persons
sentenced would spend no time in jail but would be sentenced to a
number of hours or days of community service work with government
entities or charitable or nonprofit entities approved by the
circuit court. Regarding any portion of the sentence designated as
confinement, eight hours of community service work is to be
credited as one day of the sentence imposed. Regarding any portion
of the sentence designated as a fine or court costs, the fine and
court costs is are to be credited at an hourly rate equal to the prevailing federal minimum wage at the time the sentence was
imposed. In the discretion of the court, the sentence credits may
run concurrently or consecutively. Persons sentenced under this
program may be required to provide their own transportation to and
from the work site, lunch and work clothes;
(4) A day-reporting center program if the program has been
implemented in the sentencing court's jurisdiction or in the area
where the offender resides. For purposes of this subdivision
"day-reporting center" means a court-operated or court-approved
facility where persons ordered to serve a sentence in this type of
facility are required to report under the terms and conditions set
by the court for purposes which include, but are not limited to,
counseling, employment training, alcohol or drug testing or other
medical testing. Labor performed through participation in any
community work program administered through a day-reporting center
may be credited toward the payment of fines and court costs in
accordance with the provisions of subsection three of this article.
(b) In no event may the duration of the alternate sentence
exceed the maximum period of incarceration otherwise allowed.
(c) In imposing a sentence under the provisions of this
section, the court shall first make the following findings of fact
and incorporate them into the court's sentencing order:
(1) The person sentenced was not convicted of an offense for
which a mandatory period of confinement is imposed by statute;
(2) In circuit court cases, that the person sentenced is not a habitual criminal within the meaning of sections eighteen and
nineteen, article eleven, chapter sixty-one of this code;
(3) In circuit court cases, that the offense underlying the
sentence is not a felony offense for which violence or the threat
of violence to the person is an element of the offense;
(4) In circuit court cases, that adequate facilities for the
administration and supervision of alternative sentencing programs
are available through the court's probation officers or the county
sheriff or, in magistrate court cases, that adequate facilities for
the administration and supervision of alternative sentencing
programs are available through the county sheriff; and
(5) That an alternative sentence under provisions of this
article will best serve the interests of justice; and
(6) In sentencing an offender to participate in a community
work program, in lieu of payment of fines or court costs, the court
shall find that the offender lacks the financial resources to pay
the fine and court costs and that the interests of justice would
best be served through the performance of labor as provided by this
article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow people to discharge
court costs through participation in a community work program under
certain circumstances when the court finds that they have no
ability to pay such costs.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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