H. B. 2420
(By Delegates Staton and Mahan)
[Introduced February 16, 2005; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §51-1-17 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; to amend and reenact §51-2-1 of said code;
to amend and reenact §51-2A-2, §51-2A-8, §51-2A-10, §51-2A-11,
§51-2A-12 and §51-2A-13 of said code; to amend and reenact
§51-3-14 of said code; to amend and reenact §51-4-1 and
§51-4-11 of said code; to amend and reenact §51-6-12 of said
code; and to amend and reenact §51-8-8 and §51-8-9 of said
code, all relating to including family courts into certain
jurisdictional references of the clerk of the circuit court by
changing the official title of the clerk of the circuit court
to clerk of the courts.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-1-17 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; that §51-2-1 of said code be amended and
reenacted; that §51-2A-2, §51-2A-8, §51-2A-10, §51-2A-11, §51-2A-12 and §51-2A-13 of said code be amended and reenacted; that §51-3-14
of said code be amended and reenacted; that §51-4-1 and §51-4-11 of
said code be amended and reenacted; that §51-6-12 of said code be
amended and reenacted; and that §51-8-8 and §51-8-9 of said code be
amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS.
§51-1-17. Administrative office of Supreme Court of Appeals -
duties of director.
The director shall, when authorized by the Supreme Court of
Appeals, be the administrative officer of said court and shall have
charge, under the supervision and direction of the Supreme Court of
Appeals, of:
(a) All administrative matters relating to the offices of the
clerks clerk of the
circuit courts and intermediary courts and of
the offices of
justice of the peace magistrates
and all other
clerical and administrative personnel of said courts; but nothing
contained in this article shall be construed as affecting the
authority of the courts to appoint their administrative or clerical
personnel;
(b) Examining the State of the dockets of the various courts
and securing information as to their needs for assistance, if any,
and the preparation of statistical data and reports of the business
transacted by the courts;
(c) The preparation of a proper budget to secure the appropriation of moneys for the maintenance, support and operation
of the courts;
(d) The purchase, exchange, transfer and distribution of
equipment and supplies, as may be needful or desirable;
(e) Such other matters as may be assigned to him by or her the
Supreme Court of Appeals. The clerks of the circuit courts,
intermediate courts and courts of the justices of the peace
magistrates
shall comply with any and all requests made by the
director or his or her assistants for information and statistical
data bearing on the state of the dockets of such courts, or such
other information as may reflect the business transacted by them;
(f) Annual report of activities and estimates of expenditures.
-- The director, when required to do so by the Supreme Court of
Appeals, shall submit annually to the court a report of the
activities of the administrative office and of the State of
business of the courts, together with the statistical data compiled
by him, or her with his recommendations;
(g) Serve as the chair of the court security board created
under the provisions of section fifteen, article three of this
chapter.
(h) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
ARTICLE 2. CIRCUIT COURTS; CIRCUIT JUDGES.
§51-2-1. Judicial circuits; terms of office; legislative findings
and declarations; elections; terms of court; circuit
and family court clerks.
(a) The State shall be divided into the following judicial
circuits with the following number of judges:
The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio shall constitute the
first circuit and shall have four judges; the counties of Marshall,
Tyler and Wetzel shall constitute the second circuit and shall have
two judges; the counties of Doddridge, Pleasants and Ritchie shall
constitute the third circuit and shall have one judge; the counties
of Wood and Wirt shall constitute the fourth circuit and shall have
three judges; the counties of Calhoun, Jackson, Mason and Roane
shall constitute the fifth circuit and shall have two judges; the
county of Cabell shall constitute the sixth circuit and shall have
four judges; the county of Logan shall constitute the seventh
circuit and shall have two judges; the county of McDowell shall
constitute the eighth circuit and shall have two judges; the county
of Mercer shall constitute the ninth circuit and shall have two
judges; the county of Raleigh shall constitute the tenth circuit
and shall have three judges; the counties of Greenbrier and
Pocahontas shall constitute the eleventh circuit and shall have two
judges; the county of Fayette shall constitute the twelfth circuit
and shall have two judges; the county of Kanawha shall constitute the thirteenth circuit and shall have seven judges; the counties of
Braxton, Clay, Gilmer and Webster shall constitute the fourteenth
circuit and shall have two judges; the county of Harrison shall
constitute the fifteenth circuit and shall have three judges; the
county of Marion shall constitute the sixteenth circuit and shall
have two judges; the county of Monongalia shall constitute the
seventeenth circuit and shall have two judges; the county of
Preston shall constitute the eighteenth circuit and shall have one
judge; the counties of Barbour and Taylor shall constitute the
nineteenth circuit and shall have one judge; the county of Randolph
shall constitute the twentieth circuit and shall have one judge;
the counties of Grant, Mineral and Tucker shall constitute the
twenty-first circuit and shall have two judges; the counties of
Hampshire, Hardy and Pendleton shall constitute the twenty-second
circuit and shall have one judge; the counties of Berkeley,
Jefferson and Morgan shall constitute the twenty-third circuit and
shall have four judges; the county of Wayne shall constitute the
twenty-fourth circuit and shall have one judge; the counties of
Lincoln and Boone shall constitute the twenty-fifth circuit and
shall have two judges; the counties of Lewis and Upshur shall
constitute the twenty-sixth circuit and shall have one judge; the
county of Wyoming shall constitute the twenty-seventh circuit and
shall have one judge; the county of Nicholas shall constitute the
twenty-eighth circuit and shall have one judge; the county of Putnam shall constitute the twenty-ninth circuit and shall have two
judges; the county of Mingo shall constitute the thirtieth circuit
and shall have one judge; and the counties of Monroe and Summers
shall constitute the thirty-first circuit and shall have one judge:
Provided, That the Kanawha County circuit court shall be a court of
concurrent jurisdiction with each single judge circuit where the
sitting judge in such single judge circuit is unavailable by reason
of sickness, vacation or other reason.
(b) Any judge in office on the effective date of the
reenactment of this section shall continue as a judge of the
circuit as constituted under prior enactments of this section,
unless sooner removed or retired as provided by law, until the
thirty-first day of December, two thousand.
(c) The term of office of all circuit court judges shall be
for eight years. The term of office for all circuit court judges
elected during the general election conducted in the year two
thousand shall commence on the first day of January, two thousand
one and end on the thirty-first day of December, two thousand
eight.
(d) Beginning with the primary and general elections to be
conducted in the year one thousand nine hundred ninety-two, in all
judicial circuits having two or more judges there shall be, for
election purposes, numbered divisions corresponding to the number
of circuit judges in each circuit. Each judge shall be elected at large from the entire circuit. In each numbered division of a
judicial circuit, the candidates for nomination or election shall
be voted upon and the votes cast for the candidates in each
division shall be tallied separately from the votes cast for
candidates in other numbered divisions within the circuit. The
candidate receiving the highest number of the votes cast within a
numbered division shall be nominated or elected, as the case may
be: Provided, That beginning with the primary and general
elections to be conducted in the year two thousand, judges serving
a judicial circuit comprised of four or more counties with two or
more judges, shall not be residents of the same county.
(e) The supreme court shall, by rule, establish the terms of
court of circuit judges.
(f) The clerk of the circuit court shall be officially known
as the clerk of the courts.
(g)The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
ARTICLE 2A. FAMILY COURTS.
§51-2A-2. Family court jurisdiction; exceptions; limitations.
(a) The family court shall exercise jurisdiction over the
following matters:
(1) All actions for divorce, annulment or separate maintenance brought under the provisions of article three, four or five,
chapter forty-eight of this code, except as provided in subsections
(b) and (c) of this section;
(2) All actions to obtain orders of support brought under the
provisions of part one, article fourteen, chapter forty-eight of
this code;
(3) All actions to establish paternity brought under the
provisions of article twenty-four, chapter forty-eight of this
code, and any dependent claims related to such actions regarding
child support, parenting plans or other allocation of custodial
responsibility or decision-making responsibility for a child;
(4) All actions for grandparent visitation brought under the
provisions of article ten, chapter forty-eight of this code;
(5) All actions for the interstate enforcement of family
support brought under article sixteen, chapter forty-eight of this
code and for the interstate enforcement of child custody brought
under the provisions of article twenty, chapter forty-eight of this
code;
(6) All actions for the establishment of a parenting plan or
other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making
responsibility for a child, including actions brought under the
uniform child custody jurisdiction and enforcement act, as provided
in article twenty, chapter forty-eight of this code;
(7) All petitions for writs of habeas corpus wherein the issue contested is custodial responsibility for a child;
(8) All motions for temporary relief affecting parenting plans
or other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making
responsibility for a child, child support, spousal support or
domestic violence;
(9) All motions for modification of an order providing for a
parenting plan or other allocation of custodial responsibility or
decision-making responsibility for a child or for child support or
spousal support;
(10) All actions brought, including civil contempt
proceedings, to enforce an order of spousal or child support or to
enforce an order for a parenting plan or other allocation of
custodial responsibility or decision-making responsibility for a
child;
(11) All actions brought by an obligor to contest the
enforcement of an order of support through the withholding from
income of amounts payable as support or to contest an affidavit of
accrued support, filed with the circuit clerk of the courts, which
seeks to collect an arrearage; and
(12) All final hearings in domestic violence proceedings.
(b) If an action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance does not require the establishment of a parenting plan
or other allocation of custodial responsibility or decision-making
responsibility for a child and does not require an award or any payment of child support, the circuit court has concurrent
jurisdiction with the family court over the action if, at the time
of the filing of the action, the parties also file a written
property settlement agreement executed by both parties.
(c) If an action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance is pending and a petition is filed pursuant to the
provisions of article six, chapter forty-nine of this code alleging
abuse or neglect of a child by either of the parties to the
divorce, annulment or separate maintenance action, the orders of
the circuit court in which the abuse or neglect petition is filed
shall supercede and take precedence over an order of the family
court respecting the allocation of custodial and decision-making
responsibility for the child between the parents. If no order for
the allocation of custodial and decision-making responsibility for
the child between the parents has been entered by the family court
in the pending action for divorce, annulment or separate
maintenance, the family court shall stay any further proceedings
concerning the allocation of custodial and decision-making
responsibility for the child between the parents and defer to the
orders of the circuit court in the abuse or neglect proceedings.
(d) A family court is a court of limited jurisdiction. A
family court is a court of record only for the purpose of
exercising jurisdiction in the matters for which the jurisdiction
of the family court is specifically authorized in this section and in chapter forty-eight of this code. A family court may not
exercise the powers given courts of record in section one, article
five, chapter fifty-one of this code or exercise any other powers
provided for courts of record in this code unless specifically
authorized by the Legislature. A family court judge is not a
"judge of any court of record" or a "judge of a court of record" as
the terms are defined and used in article nine of this chapter.
(e)The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-2A-8. Rules of practice and procedure; applicability of rules
of evidence; record of hearings; duties of clerk of
circuit court.
(a) Pleading, practice and procedure in matters before a
family court judge are governed by rules of practice and procedure
for family law promulgated by the Supreme Court of Appeals.
(b) The West Virginia Rules of Evidence apply to proceedings
before a family court judge.
(c) Hearings before a family court shall be recorded
electronically. A magnetic tape or other electronic recording
medium on which a hearing is recorded shall be indexed and securely
preserved by the secretary-clerk of the family court judge and
shall not be placed in the case file in the office of the circuit clerk: Provided, That upon the request of the family court judge,
the magnetic tapes or other electronic recording media shall be
stored by the clerk of the circuit court. When requested by either
of the parties, a family court judge shall provide a duplicate copy
of the tape or other electronic recording medium of each hearing
held. For evidentiary purposes, a duplicate of such electronic
recording prepared by the secretary-clerk shall be a "writing" or
"recording" as those terms are defined in Rule 1001 of the West
Virginia Rules of Evidence and unless the duplicate is shown not to
reflect the contents accurately, it shall be treated as an original
in the same manner that data stored in a computer or similar data
is regarded as an "original" under such rule. The party requesting
the copy shall pay an amount equal to the actual cost of the tape
or other medium or the sum of five dollars, whichever is greater.
Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the preparation of a
transcript and the payment of the cost thereof shall be the
responsibility of the party requesting the transcript.
(d) The recording of the hearing or the transcript of
testimony, as the case may be, and the exhibits, together with all
documents filed in the proceeding, constitute the exclusive record
and, on payment of lawfully prescribed costs, shall be made
available to the parties.
(e) In any proceeding in which a party has filed an affidavit
that he or she is financially unable to pay the fees and costs, the family court judge shall determine whether either party is
financially able to pay the fees and costs based on the information
set forth in the affidavit or on any evidence submitted at the
hearing. If a family court judge determines that either party is
financially able to pay the fees and costs, the family court judge
shall assess the payment of such fees and costs accordingly as part
of an order. The provisions of this subsection do not alter or
diminish the provisions of section one, article two, chapter
fifty-nine of this code.
(f) The clerks of the circuit court shall have, within the
scope of the jurisdiction of family courts, all the duties and
powers prescribed by law that clerks exercise on behalf of circuit
courts: Provided, That a family court judge may not require the
presence or attendance of a circuit clerk of the courts or deputy
circuit clerk of the courts at any hearing before the family court.
(g)The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-2A-10. Motion for reconsideration of family court order.
(a) Any party may file a motion for reconsideration of a
temporary or final order of the family court for the following
reasons: (1) Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect or
unavoidable cause; (2) newly discovered evidence which by due diligence could not have been available at the time the matter was
submitted to the court for decision; (3) fraud, misrepresentation
or other misconduct of an adverse party; (4) clerical or other
technical deficiencies contained in the order; or (5) any other
reason justifying relief from the operation of the order.
(b) A motion for reconsideration must be filed with the clerk
of the circuit court courts within a reasonable time and for
reasons set forth in subdivision (1), (2) or (3), subsection (a) of
this section, not more than one year after the order was entered
and served on the other party in accordance with Rule 5 of the
Rules of Civil Procedure. The family court must enter an order
ruling on the motion within thirty days of the date of the filing
of the motion.
(c)The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-2A-11. Petition for appeal.
(a) Within thirty days following the entry of a final order of
a family court judge or the entry of a final order of any senior
status circuit judge, circuit judge or other judicial officer
appointed to serve pursuant to the provisions of section nineteen
of this article, any party may file a petition for appeal with the
circuit court. No appeal may be had under the provisions of this article from any order of a family court judge or from any order of
another judicial officer temporarily serving as a family court
judge other than a final order.
(b) A petition for appeal of a final order of the family court
shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court
courts. At the time of filing the petition, a copy of the petition
for appeal must be served on all parties to the proceeding in the
same manner as pleadings subsequent to an original complaint are
served under Rule 5 of the Rules of Civil Procedure.
(c) The circuit judge may require, or a party may choose to
submit with the petition for appeal, a brief in support of the
petition.
(d) A respondent shall have fifteen days after the filing of
a petition to file a reply to the petition for appeal. The reply
must be served on all parties to the proceeding in the same manner
required for service of the petition. The circuit judge may
require, or a party may choose to submit with the reply, a brief in
opposition to the petition.
(e) In addition to the reply, the respondent may file a
cross-petition to the petition for appeal within fifteen days after
the filing of the petition. The respondent to the cross-petition
shall have fifteen days after the filing of the cross-petition to
file a reply. The cross-petition and any reply must be served in
the same manner required for service of the original petition. The circuit judge may require or either party may choose to submit a
brief on the cross-petition.
(f) The Supreme Court of Appeals shall develop and provide
forms for appeals filed pursuant to this section. The forms shall
be made available for distribution in the offices of the clerks of
the circuit courts and in the offices of the secretary-clerks to
the family court judges.
(g) The Supreme Court of Appeals shall promulgate a
supervisory rule setting forth educational requirements in domestic
relations matters for circuit court judges.
(h) An appeal from the final order of any judicial officer
assigned or appointed pursuant to the provisions of section
nineteen of this article shall be perfected and treated in all
respects as an appeal from an order of the family court. The terms
"family court" or "family court judge" as provided in this section
and in sections twelve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen of this
article mean the judicial officer who entered the final order which
is the subject of an appeal.
(i)The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-2A-12. Stay of proceedings pending appeal.
(a) Any person desiring to file a petition for appeal from a final order of the family court may file a motion for a stay of
proceedings to the family court in which the order was entered.
The motion for a stay shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit
court courts and served on the respondent in accordance with Rule
5 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. The family court may, sua
sponte, order a stay of all or part of a final order pending
appeal. Subject to the provisions of subsection (c) of this
section, the family court may order a stay for the period of time
allowed for the filing of a petition for appeal to the circuit
court or for any additional period of time pending disposition of
the appeal. If the circuit court refuses to consider the petition
for appeal, the stay is vacated.
(b) If the family court judge denies a motion for a stay of
the proceedings pending appeal, or if the relief afforded is not
acceptable, the person desiring to file the petition for appeal may
file a motion for a stay of the proceedings to the circuit court.
The motion for stay shall be filed with the clerk of the circuit
court and served upon the other party in accordance with Rule 5 of
the Rules of Civil Procedure. Subject to the provisions of
subsection (c) of this section, the circuit court may order a stay
for the period of time allowed for the filing of a petition for
appeal to the circuit court or for any additional period of time
pending disposition of the appeal. If the circuit court refuses to
consider the petition for appeal, the stay is vacated.
(c) An order granting a motion for a stay under the provisions
of this section may not include a stay of an award for the payment
of spousal support or child support pending the appeal, except that
an award of past-due child support may be stayed pending an appeal.
(d)The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-2A-13. Motion to dismiss appeal.
(a) At any time following the filing of a petition for appeal
of a final order of a family court, either party may move the
circuit court to dismiss the appeal on any of the following
grounds: (1) A joint agreement of the parties to the dismissal;
(2) failure to properly perfect the appeal; (3) failure to obey an
order of the family court or circuit court; (4) lack of an
appealable order; or (5) lack of jurisdiction. Such motion shall be
filed with the clerk of the circuit court courts and served on the
respondent in accordance with Rule 5 of the Rules of Civil
Procedure. No oral argument shall be held on such motion unless
requested by the court.
(b) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature do not take effect until
the first day of January, two thousand six.
ARTICLE 3. COURTS IN GENERAL.
§51-3-14. Court security fund.
(a) The offices and the clerks of the magistrate courts and
the circuit clerks of the courts shall, on or before the tenth day
of each month, transmit all fees and costs received for the court
security fund in accordance with the provisions of sections one and
two, article three, chapter fifty of this code and section eleven,
article one, chapter fifty-nine of this code for deposit in the
State Treasury to the credit of a special revenue fund to be known
as the "Court Security Fund", which is hereby created under the
Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety. The court
security fund may receive any gifts, grants, contributions or other
money from any source which is specifically designated for deposit
in the fund. All moneys collected and received and paid into the
State Treasury and credited to the court security fund shall be
expended by the board exclusively to implement the improvement
measures agreed upon in accordance with the security plans
submitted pursuant to section sixteen of this article and in
accordance with an appropriation by the Legislature. Amounts
collected which are found from time to time to exceed the funds
needed for the purposes set forth in this article may be
transferred to other accounts or funds and redesignated for other
purposes upon appropriation by the Legislature.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, during fiscal year two thousand, all fees and costs received for the court security fund in accordance with the
provisions of sections one and two, article three, chapter fifty of
this code, section eleven, article one, chapter fifty-nine of this
code, and any other provision of this code, for deposit in the
State Treasury to the credit of the court security fund shall not
be deposited in the court security fund, but shall instead be
transmitted by the offices and the clerks of the magistrate courts
and the circuit clerk of the courts in each circuit, on or before
the tenth day of each month, for deposit in the State Treasury to
the credit of the family court fund established under section
twenty-three, article four, chapter forty-eight-a of this code.
The fees and costs that are deposited in the family court fund
under the provisions of this subsection shall be expended for the
purposes set forth in said section twenty-three.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this code to the
contrary, after the thirtieth day of June, two thousand, the court
security board shall transfer such amounts from the court security
fund as may from time to time be directed by the Legislature in an
appropriation act to the domestic violence legal services fund
created in section four-c, article two-c, chapter forty-eight of
this code. Any moneys transferred to the domestic violence legal
services fund pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be
expended for the purposes specified in said section four-c.
(d) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand five regular session of the Legislature relating to the designation
of the circuit clerk as the clerk of the courts do not take effect
until the first day of January, two thousand six.
ARTICLE 4. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO CLERKS OF COURTS.
§51-4-1. Where clerks' offices to be kept.
(a) The clerk's office of the Supreme Court of Appeals shall
be kept at the seat of government, unless such court shall direct
it to be kept elsewhere. The clerks' offices office of the clerk
of the circuit court courts in each circuit and county court of
every county shall be kept at the courthouse of such county, unless
there shall have been a failure to provide such offices there, in
which case they may be kept at such other place within the county
as the respective courts may direct.
(b) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature do not take effect until
the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-4-11. Report by circuit clerk to auditor of claims allowed
against state; duties of auditor; penalty.
(a) It shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court
courts of each county, in addition to the reports of fines, jurors
and witnesses otherwise provided for by law, to transmit to the
auditor, within thirty days after the adjournment of each term of
the court, a report of all claims allowed and certified by such
court for payment out of the State Treasury. Such report shall show in whose favor the claim is allowed, for what purpose and the
amount thereof. It shall be the duty of the auditor to furnish the
clerk with blank forms for such reports, and, when made out and
returned to the auditor, he shall cause the same to be recorded in
a book to be kept by him for that purpose.
If any clerk or the auditor fail to perform any duty required
in this section he or she shall forfeit one hundred dollars.
(b) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature do not take effect until
the first day of January, two thousand six.
ARTICLE 6. GENERAL RECEIVERS.
§51-6-12. "Receivers' book"; recordation of reports; inspection.
(a) The clerk of each circuit courts in each circuit shall
procure, at the expense of his or her county, a book to be called
the "receivers' book," wherein he or she shall record such reports,
when approved by the court; and he or she shall make an index
thereto, showing the style of the suit or other proceeding in which
money has been paid as aforesaid, and the page where any report
respecting the same has been recorded. Such book shall be open to
the examination of any person interested, or his or her counsel,
without the payment of any fee therefor.
(b) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature do not take effect until
the first day of January, two thousand six.
ARTICLE 8. STATE AND COUNTY LAW LIBRARIES; LAW CLERKS.
§51-8-8. Authority to establish county law libraries; control of
circuit judge; rules.
(a) In addition to all other powers and duties now conferred
by law upon the Supreme Court of Appeals and the circuit courts,
such courts are hereby authorized and empowered to establish county
law libraries which shall be wholly under the control and
management of the circuit judge, with the assistance of the circuit
clerk of the courts. The Supreme Court of Appeals may expend funds
for the purchase of books or other expenses necessary to the
operation of the county law library.
All county law libraries presently in existence shall be
continued and kept current and the cost thereof, other than for
provision of adequate space, shall be borne by the State and
charged against the judicial accounts thereof. Such libraries
shall be available for use by the public subject to such reasonable
rules as may be adopted by the circuit judge. County commissions
shall provide adequate space for such libraries.
(b) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature do not take effect until
the first day of January, two thousand six.
§51-8-9. Accounts and reports relating to county law libraries.
(a) The administrative director of the Supreme Court of
Appeals, with the cooperation and assistance of each circuit clerk of the courts in each circuit, shall keep full and complete account
of all money transactions in connection with the various county law
libraries and of the receipt of all books and other documents
lodged in such libraries and shall perform such other duties in
connection therewith as may be ordered by the Supreme Court of
Appeals. Such administrative director shall make an annual report
to the Supreme Court of Appeals within sixty days after the close
of each fiscal year, in which he or she shall state the number of
copies of reports, acts of the Legislature and all other books and
documents received by each county law library and the disposition
made thereof. Such report shall also set forth what money came
into his or her hands during the preceding fiscal year.
(b) The provisions of this section passed in the two thousand
five regular session of the Legislature do not take effect until
the first day of January, two thousand six.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to include family courts
into certain jurisdictional references of the clerk of the circuit
court by changing the official title of the clerk of the circuit
court to clerk of the courts.
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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