SB275 HFA Skaff et al. 3-29

Altizer – 3259

            Delegates Skaff, Evans, Fleischauer, Barach, Walker, Pushkin, Zukoff, Brown & Lovejoy move to amend SB275 HFA AM 3-25 on page 73, line 13, following the period, by inserting a new section to read as follows:

“§58-5-1a. Tolled effective date for implementation of the Intermediate Court           of Appeals.

(a) Legislative findings- As the most pressing issue in our criminal justice,  public health and judicial systems is the management and rehabilitation of adults whose drug addiction has impacted our state’s children, and rehabilitation of parents that have been abusing or neglecting their children due to addiction should be the state’s judicial system’s top priority through the establishment of family drug treatment courts,  and diverting resources away from that effort to establish an Intermediate Court of Appeals would be a misuse of limited government funds and focus away from what must be seen as the most critical crisis facing our state.  Therefore, the implementation of the establishment of the intermediate court shall be tolled until the judiciary implements family drug treatment courts throughout the State of West Virginia.

(b) Notwithstanding any other the provisions of Enrolled Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 275 enacted during the 2021 Regular Session of the West Virginia Legislature to the contrary, this Act shall become effective only when the West Virginia Supreme Court enters into its record a finding that family drug treatment courts as authorized pursuant to §62-15B-1 et seq. of this code are established and operational in all judicial circuits in the state.   If family drug treatment courts have not been established in all judicial circuits by July 1, 2021, the July 1, 2022 effective date for the establishment of the Intermediate Court of Appeals shall be tolled and become effective one year following the certification of the West Virginia Supreme Court by order of the court finding the requirements of this section have been fulfilled.  The Court upon entering such order shall provide notice to the Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, the President of State Senate, and the Governor, and publish a notice in the West Virginia State Register providing public notice that family drug treatment courts have been established and are operational in each judicial circuit and the date the Intermediate Court of Appeals will be operational, and as a result, the provisions of this Act become effective as provided herein.”