H. B. 2141
(By Delegates Kominar, H. White,
Browning, Mahan and Faircloth)
[Introduced January 13, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend article two, chapter thirty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a,
relating to providing that members and staff of the
Legislature shall receive one quarter of required continuing
education for each regular session worked or served;
clarifying that certain attorneys are exempt from mandatory
continuing education; and specifying crime and criminal
penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter thirty of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section one-a, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW.
§30-2-1a. Continuing legal education; applicability; credit for
serving as member or employee of the Legislature.
(a) Subject to the following, attorneys licensed to practice
in this state shall comply with the rules of the supreme court of
appeals with respect to continuing legal or professional education.
(b) Members and employees of the Legislature who are admitted
to practice law in this state shall receive twenty-five percent of
his or her total mandated credit for each regular session he or she
serves or is employed in.
(c) Any person admitted to practice in this state who was a
member in good standing of the bar prior to the date that mandatory
continuing legal education was imposed is not and may not be
subjected to mandatory continuing legal education nor suffer any
penalties as a result of not having continuing legal education.
Any person violating the provisions of this section is guilty of a
felony involving moral turpitude and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in the state correctional facility for no less
than five years.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that members and
staff of the Legislature automatically receive one fourth of the
mandated continuing legal education for each regular session he or
she works. The bill also clarifies that mandatory continuing
education should never have applied to those persons who were
already admitted to practice law when the requirement was
promulgated.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.