Senate Bill No. 611

(By Senators Wooton, Burnette, Caldwell, Fanning,

Hunter, Kessler, Minard, Mitchell, Oliverio, Rowe,

Deem, Facemyer and McKenzie)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;


reported February 15, 2002.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article five, chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to imposing a mandatory special assessment against convicted felons for deposit in the community corrections fund.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article five, chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COSTS IN CRIMINAL CASES.

 §62-5-10. Mandatory cost assessed upon conviction of a felony.
(a) Every circuit court shall assess, in every felony criminal matter as a cost to the defendant, an assessment in the sum of fifty seventy-five dollars for each felony count of conviction. The assessment referred to herein shall be paid upon adjudication of guilt unless the court determines that the defendant is unable to pay in such a manner in which case payment of the assessment shall be paid prior to final disposition. If the circuit court determines that a defendant is financially unable to pay the assessment prior to final disposition, payment of the assessment shall be a mandatory condition of probation or parole.
(b) The clerk of the circuit court wherein the assessment is imposed under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall, on or before the last day of each month, transmit all costs received pursuant to this section to the state treasurer for deposit in the state treasury to the credit of the "Crime Victims Compensation Fund" for deposit as follows: Fifty dollars to the credit of the crime victims compensation fund created by the provisions of section four, article two-a, chapter fourteen of this code and twenty-five dollars to the credit of the West Virginia community corrections fund created by the provisions of section four, article eleven-e of this chapter.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the mandatory assessment from felons by twenty-five dollars and dedicate monies to community collections fund.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)