FISCAL NOTE
Date Requested: January 13, 2016
Time Requested: 05:46 PM |
| Agency: |
Public Defender Services |
|---|
| CBD Number: |
Version: |
Bill Number: |
Resolution Number: |
| 1076 |
Introduced |
SB73 |
|
|---|
| CBD Subject: |
Motor Vehicles |
|---|
|
FUND(S):
0226-78800
Sources of Revenue:
General Fund
Legislation creates:
Neither Program nor Fund
Fiscal Note Summary
Effect this measure will have on costs and revenues of state government.
The resulting increase in payments from the state’s general revenue to court appointed counsel would be estimated by Public Defender Services to be Two Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-five Dollars and Eighty-six Cents ($2,335.86), although the increased financial liability of the State could be as high as Forty-nine Thousand Eight Hundred Thirty-one Dollars and Sixty-eight Cents ($49,831.68).
The legislation increases the seriousness of the offense to be charged when a driver of a vehicle that is involved in a vehicle crash resulting in a serious bodily injury leaves the scene of the crash without complying with the statutory requirement of rendering reasonable assistance to the injured person. W. Va. Code §17C-4-3. Presently, the offense is a misdemeanor. Under the provisions of this legislation, this offense becomes a felony, subjecting the person charged to imprisonment in a correctional facility for an indeterminate term of one to three years and to imposition of a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).
Fiscal Note Detail
| Effect of Proposal |
Fiscal Year |
2016
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
2017
Increase/Decrease
(use"-") |
Fiscal Year
(Upon Full
Implementation) |
| 1. Estmated Total Cost |
1,168 |
2,335 |
2,335 |
| Personal Services |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Current Expenses |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Repairs and Alterations |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Assets |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Other |
1,168 |
2,335 |
2,335 |
| 2. Estimated Total Revenues |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Explanation of above estimates (including long-range effect):
The following calculations are based on data compiled by Public Defender Services ("PDS" or the "agency") and set forth in its annual report for Fiscal Year 2015. The assumption is that, for Fiscal Year 2016, the increased costs would be one-half the costs for the ensuing fiscal year.
In the Fiscal Year 2015, Public Defender Services (“PDS”) received sixty-four (64) claims for payment of compensation and reimbursement of expenses from private counsel who were appointed to represent indigent defendants on misdemeanor charges related to leaving the scene of an accident. In the Fiscal Year 2014, PDS received claims for payment from appointed counsel in forty-three (43) cases involving the misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of the accident. In the Fiscal Year 2013, the number of such cases was forty-nine (49).
The total amount paid with respect to these claims in the Fiscal Year 2015 was Twenty Thousand Nine Hundred Fifty-four Dollars and Fifty Cents ($20,954.50). See Public Defender Services, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2015, p. 86. The resulting average cost per case was Three Hundred Twenty-seven Dollars and Forty-one Cents ($327.41). Id. This cost is comparable to the statewide average cost during the same period of time for all cases involving misdemeanor offenses, which was the amount of Three Hundred Eighty-six Dollars and Ninety-six Cents ($386.96). See Public Defender Services, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2015, p. 80.
The financial impact to the State of West Virginia is that the average cost for defending felony offenses is understandably higher than the average cost for defending misdemeanor offenses. The average cost for defending a felony charge in the Fiscal Year 2015 by court-appointed counsel was One Thousand One Hundred Sixty-five Dollars and Fifty-eight Cents ($1,165.58). See Public Defender Services, Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2015, p. 80. The difference in the average costs of defending felony charges and misdemeanor charges is, therefore, Seven Hundred Seventy-eight Dollars and Sixty-two Cents ($778.62).
The reporting to the agency does not designate whether a serious bodily injury was involved in these charges, since all offenses of leaving the scene of a crash when no death occurred are misdemeanors. If all cases reported in Fiscal Year 2015 involved serious bodily injury, then the additional cost to the state would have been, based upon the difference in the average cost of defending felony offenses and misdemeanor offenses, Forty-nine Thousand Eight Hundred Thirty-one Dollars and Sixty-eight Cents ($49,831.68)(64 cases x $778.62, average difference).
However, the Traffic Engineering Division for the Department of Highways for the State of West Virginia reports that in calendar year 2013, only two (2) accidents involved a pedestrian who was hit by a vehicle whose driver then fled the scene, which, under the proposed legislation, would be presumed to have caused serious bodily injury. No more recent information has been obtained from the Traffic Engineering Division. Moreover, the Traffic Engineering Division had no information regarding multi-car accidents in which a person was seriously injured and a driver then fled the scene.
The conclusion might be, therefore, that, of the sixty-four (64) cases in the Fiscal Year 2015 involving the existing misdemeanor charge for leaving the scene of an accident, few involved serious bodily injury. If the assumption is made that three (3) cases involved such an injury, then the resulting increase in payments from the state’s general revenue by the agency to appointed counsel would be estimated to be Two Thousand Three Hundred Thirty-five Dollars and Eighty-six Cents ($2,335.86)($778.62, the difference in average cost for felonies and misdemeanors, times 3 cases). But, again, if all 64 cases involved serious injury, the resulting cost would be Forty-nine Thousand Eight Hundred Thirty-one Dollars and Sixty-eight Cents($49,831.68).
Memorandum
Notably, no assessment was made regarding the costs with respect to any matters handled by the public defender corporations. The legislation would not result in an increased caseload for the public defender corporations, as it only increases the seriousness of offenses that would still be prosecuted and defended. Accordingly, the fixed costs of the public defender corporation would not have to be increased.
Person submitting Fiscal Note: Dana F. Eddy, Ex. Dir., Public Defender Services
Email Address: Dana.F.Eddy@wv.gov