ENROLLED

Senate Bill No. 335

(By Senators Wooton, Ball, Bowman, Dittmar, Fanning, Hunter, Oliverio, Ross, Schoonover, Snyder, White, Buckalew, Deem, Kimble and Scott)

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[Passed April 12, 1997; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend article seven, chapter fifty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section eight, relating to furnishing transcripts to indigent respondents in juvenile delinquency and child abuse and neglect civil proceedings; and providing for the payment of the cost of preparing the transcripts from appropriations to the supreme court of appeals.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article seven, chapter fifty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section eight, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 7. OFFICIAL REPORTERS.
§51-7-8. Transcripts to be furnished indigent persons in juvenile delinquency and child abuse and neglect proceedings upon timely request; payment therefor.

In any proceeding held pursuant to article five or six, chapter forty-nine of this code in which an indigent respondent or his or her counsel has filed a written request, in the manner prescribed by the supreme court of appeals, evidencing an intent to appeal a decision of a circuit court in the proceeding, the court, upon presentation of a written request, presented within thirty days after the entry of the order sought to be appealed, shall authorize and direct the court reporter to furnish a transcript of the testimony of the proceeding or the part or parts thereof that have specifically been requested.
The court, after being sufficiently satisfied of the reasonableness of a voucher or claim submitted for payment of the cost of preparing the transcript, shall certify the cost to the state auditor, who shall, in a timely manner, pay the court reporter's fee from appropriations to the supreme court of appeals.