Senate Bill No. 726
(By Senator Bowman)
____________
[Introduced March 21, 2005; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
____________
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §29-21-22, relating
to requiring the Supreme Court of Appeals to establish uniform
procedures and criteria to be used by circuit judges in
determining the circumstances under which the judges order
repayment of the costs of representation provided under the
Public Defender System.
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 §29-21-22, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 21. PUBLIC DEFENDER SERVICES.
§29-21-22. Supreme Court of Appeals to establish uniform
procedures and criteria for repayment; findings.
(a) The Legislature finds:
(1) The cost of the West Virginia Public Defender Services to
provide legal representation to indigent clients accused of crimes
has increased from eight million five hundred thousand dollars in
one thousand nine hundred ninety-one, to twenty-seven million
dollars in fiscal year two thousand four.
(2) Through the provisions of section sixteen of this article
the Legislature has created a mechanism by which the clients of
public defender services may be required to repay a portion of the
cost the state incurs in providing them legal representation.
(3) Due to the discretionary nature of the repayment system
some circuits do not order any repayment, and among those circuits
that do order repayment, there is significant variance in the
amounts of repayment required.
(4) The variance creates inequities in that some defendants
pay some portion of their public defense, while others under
similar circumstances in another circuit do not pay for any part of
their defense.
(5) Given the inconsistent imposition of repayment, the state
general revenue fund receives on average less than four hundred
thousand dollars a year, which is less than half a percent of the
total cost for the services provided throughout the state.
(6) Given the rising costs of providing legal representation
through public defender services and the inequities of the current repayment structure, a more uniform repayment mechanism is needed.
(b) The Supreme Court of Appeals shall by the first day of
October, two thousand five establish uniform procedures and
criteria to be used by circuit judges in determining the
circumstances under which the judges shall order, under section
sixteen of this article, repayment of the costs of representation
provided under this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Supreme
Court of Appeals to establish uniform procedures and criteria to be
used by circuit judges in determining the circumstances under which
the judges order repayment of the costs of representation provided
under the Public Defender System.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
Email
Webmaster | © 2024 West Virginia Legislature **
