Senate Bill No. 175
(By Senators Dittmar, Ball, Schoonover, Snyder,
Kessler, Anderson, Ross, Sharpe and Helmick)
____________
[Introduced January 19, 1998;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend article one, chapter fifty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section nineteen,
relating to authorizing the supreme court of appeals to
promulgate rules to establish and administer a uniform bail
schedule for certain misdemeanor offenses; allowing supreme
court of appeals or the county commission to designate persons
to administer the schedule; providing that persons
administering the schedule shall be bonded; and excluding
certain misdemeanor offenses from eligibility for inclusion in
the uniform bail schedule.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter fifty-one of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section
nineteen, to read as follows:
51-1-19.Uniform Interim Bail Schedules.
(a) The supreme court of appeals shall promulgate rules,
pursuant to the provisions of section four of this article,
establishing and implementing a uniform interim bail schedule for
all misdemeanor offenses not excluded in subsection (c) of this
section. The interim bail schedule shall be used only when a
magistrate is unavailable to set bail for the offense charged. All
persons who utilize the uniform interim bail schedule to post bond
and obtain release must appear before a magistrate in the county on
the next available court business day. The magistrate will not be
required to follow the bail schedule for any subsequent bond or
release decision, and shall set and admit bail as provided for in
section three, article two, chapter fifty of this code. Failure of
the person released to present him or herself to a designated
county magistrate the following court business day will result in
forfeiture of the posted bond in addition to any other penalties
prescribed by law.
(b) The chief circuit judge of each county shall appoint a
person or persons or request that the county commission appoint a
county employee or employees to serve as interim bond schedule
administrator. Any county or court employee or employees may be
designated to receive bail schedule payments, excluding the county sheriff or any law enforcement officer. Every interim bond
schedule administrator shall give bond with good security, in an
amount fixed by the supreme court of appeals, consistent with
bonding requirements of other county officials as provided in
article two, chapter six of this code.
(c) The following misdemeanor offenses are not eligible to be
included in the interim bail schedule: involuntary manslaughter as
provided in section five, article two, chapter sixty-one of this
code; stalking as provided in section nine-a, article two, chapter
sixty-one of this code; assault or battery against a police officer
as provided in section ten-b, article two, chapter sixty-one of
this code; unlawful shooting at another in public as provided in
section eleven, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code; and
domestic violence as provided in section twenty-eight, article two,
chapter sixty-one of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow the West Virginia
Supreme Court to establish a uniform bail schedule, which will
allow persons charged with non-violent misdemeanors to be released
by posting bail when a magistrate is unavailable.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.