ENROLLED
Senate Bill No. 140
(By Senators Kessler, Foster, Green, Jenkins, Minard, Stollings, Wells,
White, Barnes, Caruth, Deem, Hall, McKenzie and Yoder)
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[Passed February 2, 2007; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT to amend and reenact §50-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to deposit of certain moneys
collected in magistrate court.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §50-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. COSTS, FINES AND RECORDS.
§50-3-4. Disposition of costs; magistrate court fund.
(a) All costs collected in magistrate courts in a civil
proceeding pursuant to the provisions of section one of this
article and all costs collected in magistrate courts in a criminal
proceeding pursuant to the provisions of section two of this
article shall be submitted on or before the tenth day of the month
following the month of their collection to the magistrate court
clerk along with any information that may be required by the rules
of the Supreme Court of Appeals and by the rules of the State
Auditor.
(b)(1) The special county fund known as the magistrate court
fund established in each county by chapter thirty-three, Acts of
the Legislature, regular session, one thousand nine hundred
seventy-six, as amended and reenacted in subsequent Acts of the
Legislature, is hereby continued. The moneys credited to the fund
may be used solely for the purposes provided in this section.
(2) The magistrate court clerk of each county shall pay the
sum of ten dollars collected in magistrate court for each civil and
criminal proceeding into the magistrate court fund during each
fiscal year until there is paid a sum equal to fifteen thousand
dollars multiplied by the number of magistrates authorized for the
county.
(3) A county may, in accordance with the supervisory rules of
the Supreme Court of Appeals, appropriate and spend from the fund
such sums as are necessary to defray the expenses of providing
services to magistrate courts.
(c)(1) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special
escrow account designated as the Magistrate Court Surplus Account.
The moneys credited to the account may be used solely for the
purposes provided in this subsection.
(2) Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand, all
costs collected during a fiscal year in excess of the sum specified
in subdivision (2), subsection (b) of this section shall be
deposited in the Magistrate Court Surplus Account in the State
Treasury.
(3) Beginning on the first day of September, two thousand one, and on the first day of September of each year thereafter, in
accordance with the supervisory rules of the Supreme Court of
Appeals, funds from the Magistrate Court Surplus Account deposited
therein as excess costs collected in the prior fiscal year pursuant
to the provisions of subdivision (2) of this subsection shall be
disbursed as a supplement to any county magistrate court fund which
generated less than fifteen thousand dollars per magistrate in the
prior fiscal year in accordance with the provisions of this
subsection.
(4) The amount disbursed to a county magistrate court fund
from the Magistrate Court Surplus Account, when combined with the
court costs generated by the magistrate court fund of the county in
the prior fiscal year, may not exceed fifteen thousand dollars per
magistrate.
(5) The disbursements described in subdivision (3) of this
subsection shall be made as follows:
(A) There shall be distributed to each county magistrate court
fund that generated less than nine thousand dollars in the prior
fiscal year the sum of nine thousand dollars less the amount of
court costs generated by the county magistrate court fund in the
prior fiscal year. To the extent that the funds available for this
disbursement are insufficient to fully fund this disbursement, the
funds available shall be disbursed to these counties on a pro rata
basis.
(B) Any funds that remain available for disbursement after
disbursements made pursuant to paragraph (A) of this subdivision shall be disbursed in equal shares to each county magistrate court
fund that generated less than fifteen thousand dollars per
magistrate in the prior fiscal year. The shares to be disbursed to
each county magistrate court fund are to be equal to the number of
magistrates in the county. Any disbursement made under this
paragraph shall be subject to the limitations specified in
subdivision (4) of this subsection.
(6) Any funds that remain available in the Magistrate Court
Surplus Account after the disbursements have been made pursuant to
the provisions of paragraphs (A) and (B), subdivision (5) of this
subsection shall be deposited by the State Treasurer into the
General Revenue Fund of the state.