H. B. 3106
(By Delegates Webster, White, Fragale, Long, Moore, Hrutkay,
Brown, Tabb, Miley, Fleischauer and Guthrie)
[Introduced February 16, 2007; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §51-2A-3 and §51-2A-5 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended; relating to family courts;
realigning family court districts; and increasing the number
of family court judges.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-2A-3 and §51-2A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931,
as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. FAMILY COURTS.
§51-2A-3. Number of family court judges; assignment of family
court judges by family court circuits.
(a)
Until the first day of January, two thousand nine, a
total of thirty-five family court judges shall serve throughout the
state.
(b)
Until the first day of January, two thousand nine, the
state is divided into twenty-six family court circuits with the
family court judges allocated as follows:
(1) The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio constitute the
first family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(2) The counties of Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler constitute the
second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(3) The counties of Pleasants, Ritchie, Wood and Wirt
constitute the third family court circuit and have two family court
judges;
(4) The counties of Doddridge, Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer
constitute the fourth family court circuit and have one family
court judge;
(5) The counties of Mason and Jackson constitute the fifth
family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(6) The county of Cabell constitutes the sixth family court
circuit and has two family court judges;
(7) The county of Wayne constitutes the seventh family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(8) The county of Mingo constitutes the eighth family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(9) The county of Logan constitutes the ninth family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(10) The counties of Lincoln and Boone constitute the tenth
family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(11) The county of Kanawha constitutes the eleventh family
court circuit and has four family court judges;
(12) The counties of McDowell and Mercer constitute the
twelfth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(13) The counties of Raleigh and Wyoming constitute the
thirteenth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(14) The counties of Fayette and Summers constitute the
fourteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(15) The counties of Greenbrier and Monroe constitute the
fifteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(16) The counties of Clay and Nicholas constitute the
sixteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(17) The counties of Braxton, Lewis and Upshur constitute the
seventeenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(18) The county of Harrison constitutes the eighteenth family
court circuit and has one family court judge;
(19) The county of Marion constitutes the nineteenth family
court circuit and has one family court judge;
(20) The county of Monongalia constitutes the twentieth
family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(21) The counties of Barbour, Preston and Taylor constitute
the twenty-first family court circuit and have one family court
judge;
(22) The counties of Grant, Tucker and Randolph constitute
the twenty-second family court circuit and have one family court
judge;
(23) The counties of Mineral, Hampshire and Morgan constitute
the twenty-third family court circuit and have one family court
judge;
(24) The counties of Berkeley and Jefferson constitute the
twenty-fourth family court circuit and have two family court
judges;
(25) The counties of Hardy, Pendleton and Pocahontas
constitute the twenty-fifth family court circuit and have one
family court judge; and
(26) The county of Putnam constitutes the twenty-sixth family
court circuit and has one family court judge.
(c) Beginning on the first day of January, two thousand nine,
the family court circuits shall be realigned and adjusted to add an
additional ten family court judges, so that a total of forty-five
family court judges shall serve throughout the state, allocated
among a total of twenty-six family court circuits as follows:
(1) The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio shall constitute
the first family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(2) The counties of Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler shall
constitute the second family court circuit and have one family
court judge;
(3) The counties of Pleasants and Wood shall constitute the
third family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(4) The counties of Wirt, Ritchie, Calhoun and Gilmer shall constitute the fourth family court circuit and have one family
court judge;
(5) The counties of Mason, Jackson and Roane shall constitute
the fifth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(6) The county of Cabell shall constitute the sixth family
court circuit and have two family court judges;
(7) The county of Wayne shall constitute the seventh family
court circuit and have one family court judge;
(8) The county of Mingo shall constitute the eighth family
court circuit and have one family court judge;
(9) The county of Logan shall constitute the ninth family
court circuit and have two family court judges;
(10) The counties of Lincoln and Boone shall constitute the
tenth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(11) The county of Kanawha shall constitute the eleventh
family court circuit and have five family court judges;
(12) The counties of McDowell and Mercer shall constitute the
twelfth family court circuit and have three family court judges;
(13) The counties of Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming shall
constitute the thirteenth family court circuit and have three
family court judges;
(14) The county of Fayette shall constitute the fourteenth
family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(15) The counties of Greenbrier and Monroe shall constitute the fifteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(16) The counties of Clay, Nicholas and Webster shall
constitute the sixteenth family court circuit and have two family
court judges;
(17) The counties of Braxton, Lewis and Upshur shall
constitute the seventeenth family court circuit and have one family
court judge;
(18) The counties of Harrison and Doddridge shall constitute
the eighteenth family court circuit and have two family court
judges;
(19) The county of Marion shall constitute the nineteenth
family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(20) The counties of Monongalia and Preston shall constitute
the twentieth family court circuit and have two family court
judges;
(21) The counties of Barbour and Taylor shall constitute the
twenty-first family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(22) The counties of Tucker and Randolph shall constitute the
twenty-second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(23) The counties of Mineral, Hampshire and Morgan shall
constitute the twenty-third family court circuit and have one
family court judge;
(24) The counties of Berkeley and Jefferson shall constitute
the twenty-fourth family court circuit and have three family court judges;
(25) The counties of Grant, Hardy, Pendleton and Pocahontas
shall constitute the twenty-fifth family court circuit and have one
family court judge; and
(26) The county of Putnam shall constitute the twenty-sixth
family court circuit and have one family court judge.
(c)(d) The Legislature has the authority and may determine to
realign the family court circuits and has the authority and may
determine to increase or decrease the number of family court judges
within a family court circuit, from time to time. Any person
appointed or elected to the office of family court judge
acknowledges the authority of the Legislature to realign family
court circuits and the authority of the Legislature to increase or
decrease the number of family court judges within a family court
circuit.
§51-2A-5. Term of office of family court judge; initial
appointment; elections.
(a) Before the first day of December, two thousand one,
family court judges shall be appointed by the governor to serve in
the family court circuits as provided for in section three of this
article. The initial term of office for the family court judges
first appointed shall commence on the first day of January, two
thousand two, and end on the thirty-first day of December, two
thousand two.
(b) (a) Beginning with the primary and general elections to
be conducted in the year two thousand two, family court judges
shall be elected. In family court circuits having two or more
family court judges there shall be, for election purposes, numbered
divisions corresponding to the number of family court judges in
each area. Each family court judge shall be elected at large by
the entire family court circuit. In each numbered division of a
family court 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 family court
circuit. The candidate or candidates receiving the highest number
of the votes cast within a numbered division shall be nominated or
elected, as the case may be.
(c) (b) The term of office for all family court judges
elected in two thousand two shall be for six years, commencing on
the first day of January, two thousand three, and ending on the
thirty-first day of December, two thousand eight. Subsequent terms
of office for family court judges elected thereafter shall be for
eight years.
(c) The primary and general elections conducted in the year
two thousand eight shall be conducted to fill the family court
judge positions in the reconfigured districts set forth by
subsection c, section three of this article, for terms to commence on the first day of January, two thousand nine.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the number of
family court judges and realign certain districts to address
excessive workloads and overcrowded dockets in various districts.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.