WEST virginia legislature
2022 regular session
Introduced
Senate Bill 573
By Senators Trump and Weld
[Introduced February 03, 2022; referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary]
A BILL to amend and reenact §50-1-13 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to requesting that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals develop a rule creating a system in which magistrates may be assigned on a temporary rotating basis outside the county of their election or appointment to preside over initial appearances, petitions for domestic violence emergency protective orders, and emergency mental hygiene petitions in counties in which he or she was not elected or appointed during none court hours; granting the court authority to organize the system on a circuit-wide or regional basis as the court chooses; clarifying that magistrates presiding remotely is authorized if the Supreme Court of Appeals deems it appropriate; and eliminating antiquated language.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
ARTICLE 1. COURTS AND OFFICERS.
§50-1-13. Temporary service within or outside of county.
(a) The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals or judge of the circuit court of the county in which a magistrate is elected, or the chief judge thereof if there is more than one judge of the circuit court, may order a magistrate to serve temporarily at locations within the county other than at the regular office or offices of the magistrate.
(b) The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals or judge of the circuit court of the county in which a magistrate is elected, or the chief judge thereof if there is more than one judge of the circuit court, may by order direct a magistrate to serve temporarily in any other county within the judicial circuit for such purposes as the judge may direct. The magistrate’s authority, to the extent ordered by the judge, shall be equal to the jurisdiction and authority of a magistrate elected in the county to which the magistrate is ordered to serve. The temporary assignment may not exceed 60 days in length in any given calendar year, except with the consent of the transferred magistrate.
(c) A magistrate who is
temporarily assigned to a county with a higher salary schedule for magistrates
than the salary schedule in the county from which the magistrate was elected,
shall be reimbursed for the difference of the salary in the assigned county and
the lower salary which the magistrate received in the county of election,
prorated for the number of days of the temporary assignment. An assigned
magistrate may not be reimbursed on a pro rata basis for less than the salary
received in the county of that magistrate's election
(d) (c) A magistrate serving outside the county
in which he or she is elected or appointed shall be reimbursed for
reasonable expenses incurred in service outside of the county, as provided by
rule of the Supreme Court of Appeals.
(d) The Supreme Court of Appeals is requested to develop a rule creating a system in which magistrates shall, on a periodic alternating basis, be assigned to preside over initial appearances, petitions for domestic violence emergency protective orders, and emergency mental health petitions arising outside normal court hours on a circuit-wide or other regional basis as determined by the Supreme Court of Appeals. The authority of a magistrate so serving shall be equal to the jurisdiction and authority of a magistrate elected or appointed in any county in which he or she is directed to preside.
(e) Nothing in this section should be construed to prohibit a magistrate from appearing remotely if that is deemed appropriate by the Supreme Court of Appeals
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a system where magistrates shall preside in certain instances outside normal court hours.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.