Senate Bill No. 282
(By Senators Holliday, Schoonover, Wooton
and Dalton)
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[Introduced February 7, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article one, chapter
fifty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend and reenact
section one, article two of said chapter, all relating to
increasing the salaries of magistrates; and increasing the
civil jurisdiction of magistrates.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article one, chapter fifty of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section one, article
two of said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 1. COURTS AND OFFICERS.
§50-1-3. Salary of magistrates.
(a) The Legislature finds and declares that:
(1) The West Virginia supreme court of appeals has held thata salary system for magistrates which is based upon the
population that each magistrate serves does not violate the equal
protection clause of the United States Constitution;
(2) The West Virginia supreme court of appeals has held that
a salary system for magistrates which is based upon the
population that each magistrate serves does not violate article
VI, section 39 of the constitution of the state of West Virginia;
(3) The utilization of a two-tiered salary schedule for
magistrates is an equitable and rational manner by which
magistrates should be compensated for work performed;
(4) Organizing the two tiers of the salary schedule into one
tier for magistrates serving less than eight thousand five
hundred in population and the second tier for magistrates serving
eight thousand five hundred or more in population is rational and
equitable given current statistical information relating to
population and caseload; and
(5) That all magistrates who fall under the same tier should
be compensated equally.
(b) The salary of each magistrate shall be paid by the
state. Magistrates who serve less than ten thousand in
population shall be paid annual salaries of twenty thousand six
hundred twenty-five dollars and magistrates who serve ten
thousand or more in population shall be paid annual salaries of
twenty-seven thousand dollars: Provided, That on and after the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-two,
magistrates who serve less than ten thousand in population shallbe paid annual salaries of twenty-one thousand six hundred
twenty-five dollars and magistrates who serve ten thousand or
more in population shall be paid annual salaries of twenty-eight
thousand dollars: Provided, however, That on and after the first
day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three ninety-
five, magistrates who serve less than eight thousand five hundred
in population shall be paid annual salaries of twenty-three
thirty-three thousand six hundred twenty-five dollars and
magistrates who serve eight thousand five hundred or more in
population shall be paid annual salaries of thirty thirty-nine
thousand five hundred dollars.
(c) For the purpose of determining the population served by
each magistrate, the number of magistrates authorized for each
county shall be divided into the population of each county. For
the purpose of this article, the population of each county is the
population as determined by the last preceding decennial census
taken under the authority of the United States government.
ARTICLE 2. JURISDICTION AND AUTHORITY.
§50-2-1. Civil jurisdiction.
Except as limited herein and in addition to jurisdiction
granted elsewhere to magistrate courts or justices of the peace,
magistrate courts shall have jurisdiction of all civil actions
wherein the value or amount in controversy or the value of
property sought, exclusive of interest and cost, is not more than
three five thousand dollars. Magistrate courts shall have
jurisdiction of all matters involving unlawful entry or detainerof real property or involving wrongful occupation of residential
rental property, so long as the title to such property is not in
dispute. Except as the same may be in conflict with the
provisions of this chapter, the provisions of article three,
chapter fifty-five of this code, regarding unlawful entry and
detainer, shall apply to such actions in magistrate court.
Magistrate courts shall have jurisdiction of actions on bonds
given pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. Magistrate
courts shall have continuing jurisdiction to entertain motions in
regard to post-judgment process issued from magistrate court and
decisions thereon may be appealed in the same manner as
judgments.
Magistrate courts shall not have jurisdiction of actions in
equity, of matters in eminent domain, of matters in which the
title to real estate is in issue, of proceedings seeking
satisfaction of liens through the sale of real estate, of actions
for false imprisonment, of actions for malicious prosecution or
of actions for slander or libel or of any of the extraordinary
remedies set forth in chapter fifty-three of this code.
Magistrates, magistrate court clerks, magistrate court
deputy clerks, and magistrate assistants shall have the authority
to administer any oath or affirmation, to take any affidavit or
deposition, unless otherwise expressly provided by law, and to
take, under such regulations as are prescribed by law, the
acknowledgment of deeds and other writings.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the salaries
of magistrates and to increase the civil jurisdiction of
magistrates.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.