FISCAL NOTE



FUND(S):

0226

Sources of Revenue:

General Fund

Legislation creates:

Neither Program nor Fund



Fiscal Note Summary


Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.


The legislation is intended to increase the seriousness of the offense to be charged when a driver of a vehicle that is involved in a vehicle crash resulting in a serious bodily injury that causes a permanent disability leaves the scene of the crash without complying with the statutory requirement of rendering reasonable assistance to the injured person. See W. Va. Code §17C-4-3. Presently, the offense is a misdemeanor. The legislation would make the offense a felony, subjecting the person charged with the offense to the possibility of imprisonment in a correctional facility for an indeterminate term of one to three years and to a fine in an amount equal to or greater than Two Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($2,500).



Fiscal Note Detail


Effect of Proposal Fiscal Year
2014
Increase/Decrease
(use"-")
2015
Increase/Decrease
(use"-")
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation)
1. Estmated Total Cost 0 1,234 1,234
Personal Services 0 0 0
Current Expenses 0 1,234 1,234
Repairs and Alterations 0 0 0
Assets 0 0 0
Other 0 0 0
2. Estimated Total Revenues 0 0 0


Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):


In the Fiscal Year 2012 – 2013, the West Virginia Public Defender Services received claims for payment from appointed counsel in forty-nine (49) cases involving the misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of the accident. The total amount paid with respect to these claims was Sixteen Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty-nine Dollars and Eighty-three Cents ($16,959.83). This average cost per case was Three Hundred Forty-six Dollars and Twelve Cents ($346.12). This cost is in line with the statewide average cost for all cases involving misdemeanor offenses during the same period of time in the amount of Three Hundred Eighty-five Dollars and Thirty-eight Cents ($385.38). See West Virginia Public Defender Services, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2012 – 2013. The required reporting to the agency does not include a designation of whether a serious bodily injury causing permanent disability was involved in these charges. However, the Traffic Engineering Division for the West Virginia Department of Highways reports that in calendar year 2013, only two (2) accidents were reported in which a pedestrian was hit by a vehicle whose driver then fled the scene. No information has been obtained regarding crashes between two or more vehicles which resulted in a serious bodily injury causing permanent disability and in which a driver fled from the scene. The conclusion is, therefore, that, of the 49 cases in the Fiscal Year 2012 – 2013, few, if any, involved serious bodily injury causing permanent disability. If the assumption is made that two (2) cases had involved such an injury, then the resulting increase in payments from the state’s general revenue by the agency to appointed counsel would be estimated to be One Thousand Two Hundred Thirty-three Dollars and Thirty-four Cents ($1,233.34). This is calculated on the basis of the difference between the average cost of felony cases during this period of time, i.e., One Thousand Two Dollars and Five Cents ($1,002.05), and the average cost of misdemeanor cases, i.e., Three Hundred Forty-six Dollars and Twelve Cents ($346.12). See West Virginia Public Defender Services, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2012 – 2013. Notably, no assessment was made of the costs with respect to any matters handled by the public defender corporations. The legislation would not result in an increased caseload for the public defender corporations, as it only increases the seriousness of already prosecuted offenses. The fixed costs of the public defender corporation would not have to be increased, therefore.



Memorandum


If one assumed that all of the referenced forty-nine (49) cases in which the charge was leaving the scene of an accident involved serious bodily injury causing permanent disability, the annual fiscal impact would be, based upon the difference in the average cost of cases involving felonies, as set forth, and misdemeanors,as set forth, Thirty Thousand Two Hundred Sixteen and Eighty-three Cents ($30,216.83). The agency cannot speak to the increased costs of incarceration resulting from the convictions of the offense as enhanced.



    Person submitting Fiscal Note: Dana F. Eddy, Executive Director, WVPDS
    Email Address: Dana.F.Eddy@wv.gov