Senate Bill No. 282

(By Senators Holliday, Schoonover, Wooton

and Dalton)

____________

[Introduced February 7, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

____________




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.