Senate Bill No. 143
(By Senators Wagner and Grubb)
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[Introduced January 23, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article three,
chapter forty-eight-a of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating to the placement of children's advocates
throughout the state.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article three, chapter forty-
eight-a of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted,
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CHILDREN'S ADVOCATE.
§48A-3-2. Placement of children's advocates throughout
the state; supervision; office procedures.
(a) The child advocate office shall employ twenty-
one employees in the position of children's advocate,.
and
(b) Prior to the first day of July, One Thousand
nine hundred ninety-five, the offices of the children's
advocates shall be distributed geographically so as to
provide an office for each of the following areas of the
state:
(1) The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio;
(2) The counties of Marshall, Tyler and Wetzel;
(3) The counties of Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt and
Wood;
(4) The counties of Calhoun, Jackson and Roane;
(5) The counties of Mason and Putnam;
(6) The county of Cabell;
(7) The counties of McDowell and Wyoming;
(8) The counties of Logan and Mingo;
(9) The county of Kanawha;
(10) The county of Raleigh;
(11) The counties of Mercer, Monroe and Summers;
(12) The counties of Fayette and Nicholas;
(13) The counties of Greenbrier and Pocahontas;
(14) The counties of Braxton, Clay, Gilmer and
Webster;
(15) The counties of Doddridge, Harrison, Lewis and
Upshur;
(16) The counties of Marion and Taylor;
(17) The counties of Monongalia and Preston;
(18) The counties of Barbour, Randolph and Tucker;
(19) The counties of Grant, Hampshire, Hardy,
Mineral and Pendleton;
(20) The counties of Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan;
and
(21) The counties of Boone, Lincoln and Wayne.
(c) On and after the first day of July, one
thousand nine hundred ninety-five, the director of the
child advocate office shall apportion the state into
geographical regions so as to provide offices for
children's advocates throughout the state. County
boundaries shall be strictly observed and no county shall
be divided among two or more regions. Otherwise, in
making such apportionment, the director of the child advocate office shall construct regions which provide, as
nearly as is practicable, for the case load of each
children's advocate to be equal to that of other
children's advocates. Mathematical exactness as to case
load is not required and deviations from an absolute
standard may be based upon concerns, other than case
load, including, but not limited to, deviations dictated
by the following considerations:
(1) Judicial circuits;
(2) Geographical features which affect the time and
expense of travel;
(3) Traditional patterns of practice by members of
the bar; and
(4) Population variances between regions.
(b) (d) Each children's advocate shall be appointed
by the director of the child advocate office. The
children's advocates shall be duly qualified attorneys
licensed to practice in the courts of this state.
Children's advocates shall be exempted from the
appointments in the indigent cases which would otherwise
be required pursuant to article twenty-one, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
(c) (e) Nothing contained herein shall prohibit the
director from temporarily assigning, from time to time as
caseload may dictate, a children's advocate from one
geographical area to another geographical area.
(d) (f) The children's advocate is an employee of
the child advocate office.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the
director of the child advocate office, after July 1,
1995, to determine the proper apportionment of children's
advocates throughout the state. Under current law, the
distribution of children's advocates is established by
statute.
Strike-throughs indicate language which would be
stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates
new language that would be added.