Senate Bill No. 435
(By Senators Kessler and Jenkins)
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[Introduced March 3, 2005; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §8-10-2b of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §17B-3-3c and
§17B-3-9 of said code, all relating to the powers and duties
of municipal courts; failure to appear for municipal court
hearings; failure to pay municipal court fines and fees;
cancellation, suspension and revocation of driver's licenses;
payment of fines and fees from state income tax refund;
allocation of income tax refund; and suspension of license to
continue until fees, fines and reinstatement fee paid.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-10-2b of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §17B-3-3c and §17B-3-9 of said
code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 8. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
ARTICLE 10. POWERS AND DUTIES OF CERTAIN OFFICERS.
§8-10-2b. Suspension of licenses for failure to pay fines and
costs or failure to appear in court.
(a) If costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed by the
municipal court upon conviction of a person for a criminal offense
as defined in section three-c, article three, chapter seventeen-b
of this code are not paid in full within one hundred eighty days of
the judgment, the municipal court clerk or, upon a judgment
rendered on appeal, the circuit clerk shall notify the Division of
Motor Vehicles of
such the failure to pay:
Provided, That at the
time the judgment is imposed, the judge shall provide the person
with written notice that failure to pay the same as ordered
may
result in the withholding of any income tax refund due the licensee
and shall result in the suspension of
such the person's license or
privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this state and that
such
the suspension could result in the cancellation of, the failure to
renew or the failure to issue an automobile insurance policy
providing coverage for
such the person or
such the person's family:
Provided, however, That the failure of the judge to provide
such
notice
shall does not affect the validity of any suspension of
such
the person's license or privilege to operate a motor vehicle in
this state. For purposes of this section, payment shall be stayed
during any period an appeal from the conviction which resulted in
the imposition of
such costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties is
pending.
Upon
such notice, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall suspend
the person's driver's license or privilege to operate a motor
vehicle in this state until such time that the costs, fines,
forfeitures or penalties are paid.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the
contrary, the notice of the failure to pay
such costs, fines,
forfeitures or penalties
shall may not be given where the municipal
court, upon application of the person upon whom the
same costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties were imposed filed prior to the
expiration of the period within which
the same these are required
to be paid, enters an order finding that
such the person is
financially unable to pay all or a portion of the
same costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties: Provided, That where the
municipal court, upon finding that the person is financially unable
to pay a portion
thereof of the costs, fines, forfeitures or
penalties, requires the person to pay the remaining portion,
thereof the municipal court shall notify the Division of Motor
Vehicles of
such the person's failure to pay
the same if the same
is if not paid within the period of time ordered by
such the court.
(c) If a person charged with a criminal offense fails to
appear or otherwise respond in court, the municipal court
clerk
shall notify the Division of Motor Vehicles
thereof within fifteen
days of the scheduled date to appear unless
such the person sooner
appears or otherwise responds in court to the satisfaction of the judge. Upon
such notice, the Division of Motor Vehicles shall
suspend the person's driver's license or privilege to operate a
motor vehicle in this state until such time that the person appears
as required.
(d) If the person fails to comply within ninety days from the
date the municipal court sends notice to the Division of Motor
Vehicles as provided in subsection (a) or (c) of this section, the
municipal court clerk shall notify the Secretary of the Department
of Revenue that the person has failed to pay the fines assessed by
the court or has failed to respond to the citation. The Secretary
of Revenue, or his or her designee, shall withhold from any income
tax return the fees or fines due to the municipality and any and
all fees that the municipal court would have collected had the
licensee appeared. After the fees and fines are withheld, the
Secretary of Revenue shall refund any remaining balance due the
person. If the refund is not sufficient to cover all the fees and
fines being withheld pursuant to this section, the Secretary shall
allocate the money in the following manner: (1) Any fees or fines
due to the municipality; (2) the administrative fee assessed by the
Secretary of Revenue: Provided, That the fee may not exceed
twenty-five dollars; (3) seventy-five percent of the remaining
balance shall be paid to the appropriate regional jail authority
fund; (4) fifteen percent of the remaining balance shall be paid to
the crime victims compensation fund; (5) six percent of the remaining balance shall be paid into the community corrections
fund; and (6) the final four percent shall be paid to the
Governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training. When the fees
and fines exceed the person's income tax refund, the Secretary of
Revenue shall withhold the remaining balance in subsequent years
until the fees and fines owed the remaining funds are paid in full.
The Secretary of Revenue shall remit the moneys that he or she
collects to the appropriate municipality, the Regional Jail and
Correctional Facility Authority Fund, the Crime Victims
Compensation Fund, the West Virginia Community Corrections Fund and
the Governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training no later
than the first day of July of each calendar year.
(e) On or before the first day of July, two thousand five, the
municipal court may elect to reissue notice as provided in
subsections (a) and (c) of this section to the Division of Motor
Vehicles for persons who remain noncompliant: Provided, That the
person was convicted or failed to appear on or after the first day
of January, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three. If the
original notification cannot be located, the Division of Motor
Vehicles shall accept an additional or duplicate notice from the
municipal court clerk.
CHAPTER 17B. MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVER'S LICENSES.
ARTICLE 3. CANCELLATION, SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSES.
§17B-3-3c. Suspending license for failure to pay fines or penalties imposed as the result of criminal conviction or for
failure to appear in court.
(a) The Division shall suspend the license of any resident of
this state or the privilege of a nonresident to drive a motor
vehicle in this state upon receiving notice from a circuit court,
magistrate court or municipal court of this state, pursuant to
section two-b, article three, chapter fifty of this code or section
two-b, article ten, chapter eight of said code or section
seventeen, article four, chapter sixty-two of said code, that such
person has defaulted on the payment of costs, fines, forfeitures,
penalties or restitution imposed on the person by the circuit
court, magistrate court or municipal court upon conviction for any
criminal offense by the date such court had required such person to
pay the same, or that such person has failed to appear in court
when charged with such an offense. For the purposes of this
section; section two-b, article three, chapter fifty of said code;
section two-b, article ten, chapter eight of said code; and section
seventeen, article four, chapter sixty-two of said code, "criminal
offense" shall be defined as any violation of the provisions of
this code, or the violation of any municipal ordinance, for which
the violation thereof may result in a fine, confinement in jail or
imprisonment in the
penitentiary a correctional facility of this
state:
Provided, That any parking violation or other violation for
which a citation may be issued to an unattended vehicle shall not be considered a criminal offense for the purposes of this section;
section two-b, article ten, chapter eight of said code; section
two-b, article three, chapter fifty of said code; or section
seventeen, article four, chapter sixty-two of said code.
(b) A copy of the order of suspension shall be forwarded to
such person by certified mail, return receipt requested. No order
of suspension becomes effective until ten days after receipt of a
copy of such order. The order of suspension shall advise the
person that because of the receipt of notice of the failure to pay
costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties, or the failure to appear,
a presumption exists that the person named in the order of
suspension is the same person named in the notice. The
Commissioner may grant an administrative hearing which
substantially complies with the requirements of the provisions of
section two, article five-a, chapter seventeen-c of this code upon
a preliminary showing that a possibility exists that the person
named in the notice of conviction is not the same person whose
license is being suspended. Such request for hearing shall be made
within ten days after receipt of a copy of the order of suspension.
The sole purpose of this hearing shall be for the person requesting
the hearing to present evidence that he or she is not the person
named in the notice. In the event the Commissioner grants an
administrative hearing, the Commissioner shall stay the license
suspension pending the Commissioner's order resulting from the hearing.
(c) A suspension under this section and section three-a of
this chapter will continue until the person provides proof of
compliance from the municipal, magistrate or circuit court and pays
the reinstatement fee as provided in section nine of this article.
The reinstatement fee is assessed upon issuance of the order of
suspension regardless of the effective date of suspension.
§17B-3-9. Surrender and return of license not required.
The Division, upon suspending or revoking a license,
shall may
not require that the license be surrendered to and be retained by
the Division. The surrender of a license
shall may not be a
precondition to the commencement and tolling of any applicable
period of suspension or revocation:
Provided, That before the
license may be reinstated, the licensee shall pay a fee of
fifteen
fifty dollars, in addition to all other fees and charges, which
shall be collected by the Division and deposited in a special
revolving fund to be appropriated to the Division for use in the
enforcement of the provisions of this section.
Provided, however,
That when any license is suspended for failure to maintain motor
vehicle liability insurance the reinstatement fee is fifty dollars
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a way that
municipalities, the regional jail authority, the crime victims
compensation fund, the West Virginia community corrections fund and
the governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training can recover
moneys for fines and fees that are currently not collectable due to
failure to appear in municipal courts.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.