COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 178
(By Senators Ball, Dittmar, Redd, Oliverio,
Love and Anderson)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 3, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend article twelve, chapter sixty-two of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-four, relating to requiring an inmate to make written
motion to support a request for a continuance of a parole
hearing; designation of person to whom motion given; notice
requirements; promulgation of rules for exception; waiver of
hearing for one year for noncompliance; and discretion of
board to set hearings where waiver has occurred.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article twelve, chapter sixty-two of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
twenty-four, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 12. PROBATION AND PAROLE.
§62-12-24. Request to continue for good cause and timely notice
required.
(a) Any inmate scheduled for a parole interview shall, if he
or she desires to continue the interview, file with the
institutional parole officer, a written waiver of his or her right
to an interview on the date set on a form provided by the
commissioner of corrections at least thirty days prior to the
interview date. A copy of the waiver shall be supplied to the
board of parole.
(b) The board shall propose for promulgation a legislative
rule pursuant to article thirty, chapter twenty-nine-a of this
code, setting forth criteria constituting emergency circumstances
where a waiver of interview filed less than thirty days prior to
the scheduled interview shall constitute good cause for a
continuance.
(c) Any inmate failing to appear for his or her scheduled
parole interview who has not waived his or her interview pursuant
to subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall be deemed to have
waived his or her right to a parole interview for a period of twelve months from the date of the interview at which he or she
failed to appear. The board of parole shall have discretion to
reset the interview with notice to the inmate and any other
person or persons entitled by law to notice, prior to the
expiration of the twelve -month waiver period.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to stop the present
practice of inmates postponing hearings so close to the event as
to cause great inconvenience to the members of the board.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)