H. B. 2576
(By Delegates Kominar, H. White, Browning and Mahan)
[Introduced February 21, 2005; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §30-2-1a
, 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 the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §30-2-1a
, 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.
(d) 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.