ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 480
(By Senators Kessler, Dempsey, Fanning, Foster, Hunter, Jenkins,
Minard,
Oliverio, White, Caruth, Deem, Lanham and Weeks)
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[Passed March 11, 2006; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §50-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to increasing the amount of time to
pay costs of criminal proceedings.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §50-3-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. COSTS, FINES AND RECORDS.
§50-3-2. Costs in criminal proceedings.
(a) In each criminal case before a magistrate court in which
the defendant is convicted, whether by plea or at trial, there is
imposed, in addition to other costs, fines, forfeitures or
penalties as may be allowed by law: (1) Costs in the amount of
sixty dollars, of which five dollars of that amount shall be
deposited in the Courthouse Facilities Improvement Fund created by
section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(2) an amount equal to the one-day per diem provided for in subsection (h), section ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of
this code; and (3) costs in the amount of thirty dollars to be
deposited in the Regional Jail Operations Partial Reimbursement
Fund created by section ten-b of said article. A magistrate may
not collect costs in advance. Notwithstanding any other provision
of this code, a person liable for fines and court costs in a
criminal proceeding in which the defendant is confined in a jail or
prison and not participating in a work release program shall not be
held liable for the fines and court costs until ninety days one
hundred eighty days after completion of the term in jail or prison.
A magistrate court shall deposit five dollars from each of the
criminal proceedings fees collected pursuant to this section in the
Court Security Fund created in section fourteen, article three,
chapter fifty-one of this code. A magistrate court shall, on or
before the tenth day of the month following the month in which the
fees imposed in this section were collected, remit an amount equal
to the one-day per diem provided for in subsection (h), section
ten, article twenty, chapter thirty-one of this code from each of
the criminal proceedings in which the fees specified in this
section were collected to the magistrate court clerk, or if there
is no magistrate court clerk to the clerk of the circuit, together
with information as may be required by the rules of the Supreme
Court of Appeals and the rules of the Office of Chief Inspector.
These moneys are paid to the sheriff who shall distribute the moneys solely in accordance with the provisions of section fifteen,
article five, chapter seven of this code. Amendments made to this
section during the regular session of the Legislature, two thousand
one, are effective after the thirtieth day of June, two thousand one.
(b) A magistrate shall assess costs in the amount of two
dollars and fifty cents for issuing a sheep warrant and the
appointment and swearing appraisers and docketing the proceedings.
(c) In each criminal case which must be tried by the circuit
court but in which a magistrate renders some service, costs in the
amount of ten dollars shall be imposed by the magistrate court and
is certified to the clerk of the circuit court in accordance with
the provisions of section six, article five, chapter sixty-two of
this code.