ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 483
(By Senators Wooton, Ball, Dittmar, Fanning, Hunter, Kessler,
McCabe, Minard, Mitchell, Redd, Ross, Snyder and Deem)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 9, 1999.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article one, chapter
fifty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to duties of director
of supreme court of appeals; and eliminating time reporting
requirements for circuit judges.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article one, chapter fifty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. SUPREME COURT OF APPEALS.
§51-1-17. Administrative office of supreme court of appeals --
duties of director.
The director shall, when authorized by the supreme court of appeals, be the administrative officer of said court and shall have
charge, under the supervision and direction of the supreme court of
appeals, of:
(a) All administrative matters relating to the offices of the
clerks of the circuit and intermediary courts and of the offices of
justice of the peace and all other clerical and administrative
personnel of said courts; but nothing contained in this act shall
be construed as affecting the authority of the courts to appoint
their administrative or clerical personnel;
(b) Examining the state of the dockets of the various courts
and securing information as to their needs for assistance, if any,
and the preparation of statistical data and reports of the business
transacted by the courts
, including, as an integral part of the
compensation of justices and judges, the development of a system of
reporting by justices and judges as to the actual amount of time,
including travel time, spent by each justice or judge in the
conduct of his official duties in court;
(c) The preparation of a proper budget to secure the
appropriation of moneys for the maintenance, support and operation
of the courts;
(d) The purchase, exchange, transfer and distribution of
equipment and supplies, as may be needful or desirable;
(e) Such other matters as may be assigned to him by the
supreme court of appeals. The clerks of the circuit courts,
intermediate courts and courts of the justices of the peace shall
comply with any and all requests made by the director or his
assistants for information and statistical data bearing on the
state of the dockets of such courts, or such other information as
may reflect the business transacted by them;
(f)
Annual report of activities and estimates of expenditures.
-- The director, when required to do so by the supreme court of
appeals, shall submit annually to the court a report of the
activities of the administrative office and of the state of
business of the courts, together with the statistical data compiled
by him, with his recommendations.
(g) Serve as the chair of the court security board created
under the provisions of section fifteen, article three of this
chapter.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to eliminate from the
duties of the Supreme Court AdmininstratorAdministrator the requirement of making
circuit judges keep and submit time records.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.)