COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 4524

(By Delegates Staton, Amores and Manuel)


(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)

[February 13, 1996]



A BILL to repeal section six, article two-c, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one as amended; to repeal section seven, article four, chapter forty-eight-a of said code; to amend and reenact section twenty-three, article four, chapter forty- eight-a of said code; and to amend and reenact sections eleven and twenty-eight-a, article one, chapter fifty-nine of said code, all relating to an increase in certain fees to be charged by clerks of circuit courts; the elimination of family law master fees; and the monthly payments made by said clerks into various funds and accounts.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article two-c, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one as amended, be repealed; that section seven, article four, chapter forty-eight-a of said code be repealed; that section twenty- three, article four, chapter forty-eight-a of said code be amended and reenacted; and that sections eleven and twenty-eight-a, article one, chapter fifty-nine of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 48A. ENFORCEMENT OF FAMILY OBLIGATIONS.

ARTICLE 4. PROCEEDINGS BEFORE A MASTER.
§48A-4-23. Family law masters fund.
The office and the clerks of the circuit courts shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, transmit all fees and costs received for the services of the office or the family law master under this chapter to the state treasurer for deposit in the state treasury to the credit of a special revenue fund to be known as the "family law masters fund," which is hereby created. All moneys collected and received under this chapter and paid into the state treasury and credited to the "family law masters fund" shall be used by the administrative office of the supreme court of appeals solely for paying the costs associated with the duties imposed upon the family law masters under the provisions of this chapter which require activities by the masters which are not subject to being matched with federal funds or subject to reimbursement by the federal government. Such moneys shall not be treated by the auditor and treasurer as part of the general revenue of the state.
CHAPTER 59. FEES, ALLOWANCES AND COSTS;

NEWSPAPERS; LEGAL ADVERTISEMENTS.

ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.
§59-1-11. Fees to be charged by clerk of circuit court.
(a) The clerk of a circuit court shall charge and collect for services rendered as such clerk the following fees, and suchfees shall be paid in advance by the parties for whom such services are to be rendered:
For instituting any civil action under the rules of civil procedure, any statutory summary proceeding, any extraordinary remedy, the docketing of civil appeals, or any other action, cause, suit or proceeding, seventy dollars.: Provided, That the fee for instituting an action for divorce shall be twenty dollars plus the fee required by section six, article two-c, chapter forty-eight of this code.
(b) In addition to the foregoing fees, the following fees shall likewise be charged and collected:
(1) For preparing an abstract of judgment, five dollars;
(2) For any transcript, copy or paper made by the clerk for use in any other court or otherwise to go out of the office, for each page, twenty five fifty cents;
(3) For action on suggestion, five ten dollars;
(4) For issuing an execution, two ten dollars;
(5) For issuing or renewing a suggestee execution, including copies, postage, registered or certified mail fees and the fee provided by section four, article five-a, chapter thirty- eight of this code, three dollars;
(6) For vacation or modification of a suggestee execution, one dollar;
(7) For docketing and issuing an execution on a transcript of judgment from magistrate's court, three dollars;
(8) For arranging the papers in a certified question, writ of error, appeal or removal to any other court, five dollars:
(9) For postage and express and for sending or receiving decrees, orders or records, by mail or express, three times the amount of the postage or express charges;
(10) For each witness summons over and above five subpoena, on the part of either plaintiff or defendant, to be paid by the party requesting the same, twenty-five fifty cents;
(11) For additional service (plaintiff or appellant) where any case remains on the docket longer than three years, for each additional year or part year, five twenty dollars.
(c) The clerk shall tax the following fees for services in any criminal case against any defendant convicted in such court:
(1) In the case of any misdemeanor, fifty dollars;
(2) In the case of any felony, sixty dollars;.
(d) No such clerk shall be required to handle or accept for disbursement any fees, cost or amounts, of any other officer or party not payable into the county treasury, except it be on order of the court or in compliance with the provisions of law governing such fees, costs or accounts.
§59-1-28a. Disposition of filing fees in divorce and other civil actions and fees for services in criminal cases.

(a) The clerk of each circuit court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the regional jail and prison development fund in the state treasury an amount equal to sixty dollars of every filing fee received for instituting any Except for those payments to be made from amounts equaling filing fees received for the institution of divorce actions as prescribed insubsection (b) of this section, for each civil action instituted under the rules of civil procedure, any statutory summary proceeding, any extraordinary remedy, the docketing of civil appeals, or any other action, cause, suit or proceeding in the circuit court,: Provided, That in actions for divorce, the clerk shall pay into such fund an amount equal to ten dollars of the filing fee for instituting such actions the clerk of the court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the funds or accounts described in this subsection an amount equal to the amount set forth in this subsection of every filing fee received for instituting such action as follows:
Into the regional jail and correctional facility development fund in the state treasury established pursuant to the provisions of section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of this code, the amount of sixty dollars.
(b) For each divorce action instituted in the circuit court, the clerk of the court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the funds or accounts in this subsection an amount equal to the amount set forth in this subsection of every filing fee received for instituting such divorce action as follows:
(1) Into the regional jail and correctional facility development fund in the state treasury established pursuant to the provisions of section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of this code, the amount of ten dollars;
(2) Into the special revenue account of the state treasury, established pursuant to section twenty-four, article one, chapter forty-eight of this code, an amount of thirty dollars; and
(3) Into the family law masters fund in the state treasury, established pursuant to section twenty-three, article four, chapter forty-eight-a of this code, an amount of twenty dollars.
(b) (c) The clerk of each circuit court shall, at the end of each month, pay into the regional jail and prison development fund in the state treasury an amount equal to forty dollars of every fee for service received in any criminal case against any defendant convicted in such court.