WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2024 REGULAR SESSION

Introduced

House Bill 4589

By Delegate C. Pritt

[Introduced January 10, 2024; Referred
to the Committee on the Judiciary ]

A BILL to amend and reenact §50-1-9 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to permitting magistrate assistants to assess and process fines for basic charges.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

article 1. courts and officers.

§50-1-9.  Magistrate assistants; salary; duties.

((a) In each county there shall be at least one magistrate assistant for each magistrate; however, the Supreme Court of Appeals may authorize additional magistrate assistants if the workload of a county's magistrate court requires extra staff support. Each magistrate assistant shall be appointed by the magistrate under whose authority and supervision and at whose will and pleasure he or she shall serve. If more than one magistrate assistant per magistrate is approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals, then the chief magistrate, or chief circuit judge if no chief magistrate is designated, shall appoint, supervise, and assign job duties for any additional magistrate assistant as needed for that county. The assistant shall not be a member of the immediate family of any magistrate and shall not have been convicted of a felony or any misdemeanor involving moral turpitude and shall reside in the State of West Virginia. For the purpose of this section, "immediate family" means the relationships of mother, father, sister, brother, child, or spouse.

(b) A magistrate assistant shall have the duties, clerical or otherwise, assigned by the magistrate and prescribed by the rules of the Supreme Court of Appeals or the judge of the circuit court, or the chief judge of the circuit court if there is more than one judge of the circuit court. In addition to these duties, magistrate assistants shall perform and are accountable to the magistrate court clerks with respect to the following duties:

(1) The preparation of summons in civil actions;

(2) The assignment of civil actions to the various magistrates;

(3) The collection of all costs, fees, fines, forfeitures, and penalties which are payable to the court;

(4) The submission of moneys, along with an accounting of the moneys, to appropriate authorities as provided by law;

(5) The daily disposition of closed files which are to be located in the magistrate clerk’s office;

(6) All duties related to the gathering of information and documents necessary for the preparation of administrative reports and documents required by the rules of the Supreme Court of Appeals, the judge of the circuit court or the chief judge of the circuit court if there is more than one judge of the circuit court;

(7) To assess and process fines for vehicular and other charges that include fines under $500, that do not allow incarceration;

(7) (8) All duties relating to the notification, certification and payment of jurors serving pursuant to the terms of this chapter; and

(8) (9) All other duties or responsibilities whereby the magistrate assistant is accountable to the magistrate court clerk as determined by the magistrate.

(c) Magistrate assistants shall be paid at least twice per month by the state. The annual salary of all magistrate assistants is $46,932. Beginning July 1, 2023, the annual salary of a magistrate assistant shall be $49,232. Magistrate assistants may receive any general salary increase granted to state employees, whose salaries are not set by statute, expressed as a percentage increase or an across-the-board increase enacted after July 1, 2023.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow magistrate assistants to assess fines on basic charges.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.