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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 146
(By Senators Unger and Beach)
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[Introduced February 14, 2013; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance
.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §50-3-2c, relating to
permitting magistrate courts to collect unpaid costs, fines,
forfeitures and penalties it has imposed on a defendant;
permitting those unpaid costs, fines, forfeitures and
penalties to be deducted from a defendant's income tax refund;
creating the Magistrate Fines and Fees Collection Fund;
permitting the Tax Commissioner to charge an administrative
fee; and providing rule-making authority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §50-3-2c, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. COSTS, FINES AND RECORDS.
§50-3-2c. Withholding of personal income tax refunds for failure
to pay fines and costs or failure to appear in court.
(a) If costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed by the
magistrate court upon conviction of a person for a criminal offense
as defined by this code are not paid in full within one hundred
eighty days of the judgment, the magistrate court clerk or, upon a
judgment rendered on appeal, the circuit clerk shall notify the Tax
Commissioner that the defendant has failed to pay the costs, fines,
forfeitures or penalties assessed by the court. The notice
provided by the magistrate court to the Tax Commissioner must
include the defendant's social security number. The Tax
Commissioner, or his or her designee, shall withhold from any
personal income tax refund due and owing to a defendant the costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties due, the Tax Commissioner's
administration fee for the withholding and any and all fees that
the magistrate court would have collected had the defendant
appeared. The Tax Commissioner's administration fee may be set by
legislative rule promulgated in accordance with article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code. The administrative fees
deducted shall be deposited in the special revolving fund hereby
created in the State Treasury, which shall be designated as the
"Magistrate Fines and Fees Collection Fund", and the Tax
Commissioner shall make such expenditures from the fund as he or she deems appropriate for the administration of this subsection.
(b) After deduction of the Tax Commissioner's administration
fee, the Tax Commissioner shall remit to the magistrate court all
remaining amounts withheld pursuant to this section and the
magistrate court shall distribute applicable costs, fines,
forfeitures or penalties owed to the magistrate court, the Regional
Jail Authority Fund, the Crime Victims Compensation Fund, the
Community Corrections Fund, the Governor's subcommittee on law-
enforcement training or any other fund or payee that may be
applicable. After the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties are
withheld, the Tax Commissioner shall refund any remaining balance
due the defendant. If the refund is not sufficient to cover all
the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties being withheld pursuant
to this section, the Tax Commissioner's administration fee shall be
retained by the Tax Commissioner and the remaining money withheld
shall be remitted by the Tax Commissioner to the magistrate court.
The magistrate court shall then allocate the money so remitted to
the magistrate court in the following manner: (1) Any costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties due to the magistrate court; (2)
seventy-five percent of the remaining balance shall be paid to the
appropriate Regional Jail Authority Fund; (3) fifteen percent of
the remaining balance shall be paid to the Crime Victims
Compensation Fund; (4) six percent of the remaining balance shall be paid into the Community Corrections Fund; and (5) the final four
percent shall be paid to the Governor's subcommittee on law-
enforcement training.
(c) In the event the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties
exceed the defendant's income tax refund, the Tax Commissioner
shall withhold the remaining balance in subsequent years until such
time as the costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties owed are paid in
full. The Tax Commissioner shall remit the moneys that he or she
collects to the appropriate magistrate court no later than July 1,
of each year. If the magistrate court subsequently determines that
any costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties were erroneously
imposed, the magistrate court shall promptly notify the Tax
Commissioner. If the refunds have not been withheld and remitted,
the Tax Commissioner may not withhold and remit payment to the
magistrate court and shall so inform the magistrate court. If the
refunds have already been withheld and remitted to the magistrate
court, the Tax Commissioner shall so inform the magistrate court.
In either event, all refunds for erroneously imposed costs, fines,
forfeitures or penalties shall be made by the magistrate court and
not by the Tax Commissioner.
(d) Rules and effective date. -- The Tax Commissioner may
propose for legislative approval such rules as may be useful or
necessary to carry out the purpose of this section and to implement the intent of the Legislature, to be effective on July 1, 2013.
Rules shall be promulgated in accordance with article three,
chapter twenty-nine-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit magistrate courts,
like municipal courts, to collect unpaid costs, fines, forfeitures
and penalties it has imposed on a defendant. The bill permits
those unpaid costs, fines, forfeitures and penalties be deducted
from a defendant's income tax refund. The bill creates the
Magistrate Fines and Fees Collection Fund. The bill permits the
Tax Commissioner to charge an administrative fee. The bill
provides rule-making authority.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.