Senate Bill No. 625
(By Senator Chafin)
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[Introduced March 26, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections one and one-a, article eleven,
chapter eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, all relating to assessment of
costs in municipal criminal offense proceedings; and including
a per diem cost.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections one and one-a, article eleven, chapter eight of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11. POWERS AND DUTIES WITH RESPECT TO ORDINANCES AND
ORDINANCE PROCEDURES.
§8-11-1. Ordinances to make municipal powers effective; penalties
imposed under judgment of mayor or police court or
municipal judge; right to injunctive relief; right to
maintain action to collect fines; additional
assessment of costs.
(a) To carry into effect the powers and authority conferred
upon any municipality or its governing body by the provisions of
this chapter, or any past or future act of the Legislature of this
state, the governing body has plenary power and authority to:
(1) Make and pass all needful ordinances, orders, bylaws,
acts, resolutions and rules and regulations not contrary to the
constitution and laws of this state; and
(2) Prescribe reasonable penalties for violation of its
ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions and rules, and
regulations in the form of fines, forfeitures and confinement in
the county or regional jail or the place of confinement in the
municipality, if there is one, for a term not exceeding thirty
days.
(b) The fines, forfeitures and confinement shall be recovered,
imposed or enforced under the judgment of the mayor of the
municipality or the individual lawfully exercising the mayor's
functions, or the police court judge or municipal court judge of a
city, if there is one, and may be suspended upon reasonable
conditions as may be imposed by the mayor, other authorized
individual or judge.
(c) Any municipality may also maintain a civil action in the
name of the municipality in the circuit court of the county in
which the municipality or the major portion of the territory of
the municipality is located to obtain an injunction to compel
compliance with, or to enjoin a violation or threatened violation of, any ordinance of the municipality, and the circuit court has
jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. A certified transcript of
a judgment for a fine rendered by a municipal court may be filed in
the office of the clerk of a circuit court and docketed in the
judgment lien book kept in the office of the clerk of the county
commission in the same manner and with the same effect as the
filing and docketing of a certified transcript of judgment rendered
by a magistrate court as provided for in section two, article six,
chapter fifty of this code. The judgment shall include costs
assessed against the defendant.
(d) In addition to any other costs which may be lawfully
imposed, an additional cost shall be imposed in an amount of: (1)
Not less than forty-two dollars; and (2) a one-day per diem cost as
provided in subsection (h), section ten, article twenty, chapter
thirty-one of this code for a traffic offense constituting a moving
violation, regardless of whether the penalty for the violation
provides for a period of incarceration, and for any other offense
for which the ordinance prescribing the offense provides for a
period of incarceration
.
Of the forty-two dollars imposed as an
additional cost, two dollars are administrative costs to be
retained by the municipality, and forty dollars shall be paid into
the regional jail and correctional facility development fund in the
state treasury in accordance with section one-a of this article.
(e) Execution shall be by fieri fascias issued by the clerk of
the circuit court in the same manner as writs are issued on judgments for a fine rendered by circuit courts or other courts of
record under the provisions of section eleven, article four,
chapter sixty-two of this code.
§8-11-1a. Disposition of criminal costs into state treasury
account for regional jail and correctional facility
development fund.
The clerk of each municipal court, or other person designated
to receive fines and costs, shall at the end of each month pay into
the regional jail and correctional facility development fund in the
state treasury an amount equal to forty dollars of the costs
together with one day per diem cost as provided in subsection (h),
section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of this code
collected in each proceeding involving a traffic offense
constituting a moving violation, regardless of whether the penalty
for such the violation provides for a period of incarceration, or
any other offense for which the ordinance prescribing the offense
provides for a period of incarceration:
Provided, That in a case
where a defendant has failed to pay all costs assessed against him
or her, no payment shall may be made to the regional jail and
correctional facility
development fund unless and until the
defendant has paid all costs which, when paid, are available for
the use and benefit of the municipality.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
include a per diem cost
as provided in §31-20-10(h) as part of the assessment of costs in
municipal criminal offense proceedings.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.