H. B. 4460
(By Delegates Webb, Hrutkay, Wright,
Kuhn, Butcher and Ferrell)
[Introduced February 13, 2004; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §51-2A-3 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to providing for one family court
circuit comprising the county of Lincoln and one family court
circuit comprising Boone county.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-2A-3 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. FAMILY COURTS.
§51-2A-3. Number of family court judges; assignment of family
court judges by family court circuits.
(a) A total of thirty-five thirty-six family court judges
shall serve throughout the state.
(b) The state is divided into twenty-six twenty-seven family
court circuits with the family court judges allocated as follows:
(1) The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio constitute the first family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(2) The counties of Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler constitute the
second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(3) The counties of Pleasants, Ritchie, Wood and Wirt
constitute the third family court circuit and have two family court
judges;
(4) The counties of Doddridge, Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer
constitute the fourth family court circuit and have one family
court judge;
(5) The counties of Mason and Jackson constitute the fifth
family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(6) The county of Cabell constitutes the sixth family court
circuit and has two family court judges;
(7) The county of Wayne constitutes the seventh family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(8) The county of Mingo constitutes the eighth family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(9) The county of Logan constitutes the ninth family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(10) The counties county of Lincoln and Boone constitute
constitutes the tenth family court circuit and have has one family
court judge;
(11) The county of Boone constitutes the eleventh family court
circuit and has one family court judge;
(11) (12) The county of Kanawha constitutes the eleventh
twelfth family court circuit and has four family court judges;
(12) (13) The counties of McDowell and Mercer constitute the
twelfth thirteenth family court circuit and have two family court
judges;
(13) (14) The counties of Raleigh and Wyoming constitute the
thirteenth fourteenth family court circuit and have two family
court judges;
(14) (15) The counties of Fayette and Summers constitute the
fourteenth fifteenth family court circuit and have one family court
judge;
(15) (16) The counties of Greenbrier and Monroe constitute the
fifteenth sixteenth family court circuit and have one family court
judge;
(16) (17) The counties of Clay, Nicholas and Webster
constitute the sixteenth seventeenth family court circuit and have
one family court judge;
(17) (18) The counties of Braxton, Lewis and Upshur constitute
the seventeenth eighteenth family court circuit and have one family
court judge;
(18) (19) The county of Harrison constitutes the eighteenth
nineteenth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(19) (20) The county of Marion constitutes the nineteenth
twentieth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(20) (21) The county of Monongalia constitutes the twentieth
twenty-first family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(21) (22) The counties of Barbour, Preston and Taylor
constitute the twenty-first twenty-second family court circuit and
have one family court judge;
(22) (23) The counties of Grant, Tucker and Randolph
constitute the twenty-second twenty-third family court circuit and
have one family court judge;
(23) (24) The counties of Mineral, Hampshire and Morgan
constitute the twenty-third twenty-fourth family court circuit and
have one family court judge;
(24) (25) The counties of Berkeley and Jefferson constitute
the twenty-fourth twenty-fifth family court circuit and have two
family court judges;
(25) (26) The counties of Hardy, Pendleton and Pocahontas
constitute the twenty-fifth twenty-sixth family court circuit and
have one family court judge; and
(26) (27) The county of Putnam constitutes the twenty-sixth
twenty-seventh family court circuit and has one family court judge.
(c) The Legislature has the authority and may determine to
realign the family court circuits and has the authority and may
determine to increase or decrease the number of family court judges
within a family court circuit, from time to time. Any person
appointed or elected to the office of family court judge acknowledges the authority of the Legislature to realign family
court circuits and the authority of the Legislature to increase or
decrease the number of family court judges within a family court
circuit.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide for one family
court circuit comprising the county of Lincoln and one family court
circuit comprising Boone County.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.