Senate Bill No. 143
(By Senators Rowe and Kessler)
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[Introduced February 16, 2001; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article one, chapter fifty-one of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen, relating to authorizing the supreme court of
appeals to promulgate rules to establish and administer a
uniform bail schedule for certain misdemeanor offenses;
allowing supreme court of appeals or the county commission
to designate persons to administer the schedule; providing
that persons administering the schedule shall be bonded; and
excluding certain misdemeanor offenses from eligibility for
inclusion in the uniform bail schedule.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter fifty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS.
§51-1-19. Uniform interim bail schedules.
(a) The supreme court of appeals shall promulgate rules,
pursuant to the provisions of section four of this article,
establishing and implementing a uniform interim bail schedule for
all misdemeanor offenses not excluded in subsection (c) of this
section. The interim bail schedule shall be used only when a
magistrate is unavailable to set bail for the offense charged.
All persons who utilize the uniform interim bail schedule to post
bond and obtain release must appear before a magistrate in the
county on the next available court business day. The magistrate
will not be required to follow the bail schedule for any
subsequent bond or release decision, and shall set and admit bail
as provided for in section three, article two, chapter fifty of
this code. Failure of the person released to present him or
herself to a designated county magistrate the following court
business day will result in forfeiture of the posted bond in addition to any other penalties prescribed by law.
(b) The chief circuit judge of each county shall appoint a
person or persons or request that the county commission appoint
a county employee or employees to serve as interim bond schedule
administrator. Any county or court employee or employees may be
designated to receive bail schedule payments, excluding the
county sheriff or any law-enforcement officer. Every interim
bond schedule administrator shall give bond with good security,
in an amount fixed by the supreme court of appeals, consistent
with bonding requirements of other county officials as provided
in article two, chapter six of this code.
(c) The following misdemeanor offenses are not eligible to
be included in the interim bail schedule: Involuntary
manslaughter as provided in section five, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code; stalking as provided in section nine-a,
article two, chapter sixty-one of this code; assault or battery
against a police officer as provided in section ten-b, article
two, chapter sixty-one of this code; unlawful shooting at another
in public as provided in section eleven, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code; and domestic violence as provided in
section twenty-eight, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the West Virginia
Supreme Court to establish a uniform bail schedule, which will
allow persons charged with nonviolent misdemeanors to be released
by posting bail when a magistrate is unavailable.
This section is new; therefore strike-throughs and
underscoring are omitted.
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