Senate Bill No. 136
(By Senators Whitlow, Anderson, Wooton, Sharpe and White)
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[Introduced January 25, 1996; 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 two, article one, chapter
fifty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to magistrate
courts; and providing one additional magistrate each for
Harrison and Mercer counties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article one, chapter fifty of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. MAGISTRATE COURTS.
§50-1-2. Number of magistrates.
(a) The number of magistrates to be elected in each county
of this state shall be determined in accordance with the
provisions of this section.
(b) On or before the first thirty-first day of January, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-two ninety-six, and on or before the first day of January in every fourth year thereafter, the supreme
court of appeals shall certify to the board of ballot
commissioners of each county the number of magistrates to be
elected in that county for the term of office commencing on the
first day of January of the succeeding year. The number of
magistrates so certified shall be determined in accordance with
the following:
(1) The court shall not provide:
(A) For the total number of magistrates in the state to
exceed one hundred fifty-six in number;
(B) For the number of magistrates in any one county to
exceed ten in number; or
(C) For the number of magistrates in any one county to be
less than two in number.
(2) The court shall determine the number of magistrates that
would be apportioned for each county by the application of an
equal proportions formula, as follows:
(A) Two magistrates shall be allocated to each county;
(B) The population of the county shall be divided by a
mathematical factor, as established by the equal proportion
method, to establish each county's priority claim to additional
magistrates above the two magistrates provided for by paragraph
(A) of this subdivision; and
(C) Additional numbers of magistrates shall be allocated to
the several counties in order of priority claims, beginning with the largest claim, until magistrates have been assigned within
the limits of this section.
For purposes of this article, a determination made in
accordance with the provisions of this subdivision is the "equal
proportion number".
(3) The court shall determine the number of magistrates
elected in each county at the last general election in which
magistrates were regularly elected next prior to the preceding
census taken under the authority of the United States government.
For purposes of this article, that number shall be referred to as
the "election number".
(4) The court shall determine the number of case filings per
magistrate in each magistrate court for the most recent fiscal
year preceding the date of certification, and shall rank the
magistrate courts from one through fifty-five, in the order of
their case filings per magistrate, with the court having the most
filings per magistrate being ranked number one, and the court
with the least filings per magistrate being ranked number
fifty-five.
(5) If the court determines that the equal proportion number
for a county is the same as the election number for such county,
the court shall certify that number as the number of magistrates
to be elected in that county at the next election.
(6) If the court determines that the equal proportion number
for a county is different from the election number for such county, the court shall apply the ranking established by
subdivision (4) of this subsection and determine the number of
magistrates for such county, as follows:
(A) If the equal proportion number exceeds the election
number, the number of magistrates to be elected in that county at
the next election shall be the election number: Provided, That
if the county is ranked as one through five ten, inclusive, in
accordance with subdivision (4) of this subsection, the court
shall certify the equal proportion number as the number of
magistrates to be elected in that county at the next election.
(B) If the equal proportion number is less than the election
number, the number of magistrates to be elected in that county at
the next election shall be the equal proportion number:
Provided, That if the county is ranked as one through five ten,
inclusive, in accordance with subdivision (4) of this subsection,
the court shall certify the election number as the number of
magistrates to be elected in that county at the next election.
(c) If the number of magistrates in a county would have been
increased but for the application of the proviso contained in
paragraph (A), subdivision (6), subsection (b) of this section,
and if the county is ranked as six through ten, inclusive, in
accordance with the provisions of subdivision (4), subsection (b)
of this section, then the supreme court of appeals shall provide
for the appointment of an additional magistrate court deputy
clerk for that county, notwithstanding the limitation on the total number of deputy clerks otherwise provided for under the
provisions of section nine-a of this article.
(d) (c) Any magistrate in office at the time of the
effective date of this section shall continue as a magistrate,
unless sooner removed or retired as provided by law, until the
first day of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide an additional
magistrate for Harrison County and to retain one for Mercer
County.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.