Senate Bill No. 336
(By Senators Kessler, Hunter and Yoder)
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[Introduced January 24, 2008; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §59-1-16 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §62-6A-3 of said
code, all relating to increasing the compensation paid to
witnesses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §59-1-16 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that §62-6A-3 of said code be amended
and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 59. FEES, ALLOWANCES AND COSTS; NEWSPAPERS, LEGAL
ADVERTISEMENTS.
ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.
§59-1-16. Reimbursement and compensation to witnesses for required
attendance.
(a) Anyone A person attending any court or other tribunal,
under a summons or recognizance as a witness, shall receive
not less
than ten nor more than twenty dollars, to be fixed by the court or
other tribunal forty dollars for each day's attendance.
and fifteen cents per mile Further, the witness shall be reimbursed for each
mile
necessarily traveled to
and from the place of attendance,
and
the same for returning, plus all necessary bridge, ferry and road
tolls.
On his oath, an entry of the sum he is entitled to, and for
what, and by what party it is to be paid, shall be made. When the
attendance is before either house or a committee of the Legislature,
such entry shall be made by the clerk of such house or the chairman
of such committee, and in other cases by the clerk of the court or
other tribunal before which, or by the person before whom, the
witness attended. All witnesses shall be reimbursed at the same rate
per mile as established for judicial employees by the West Virginia
Supreme Court of Appeals.
(b) In order to be reimbursed or compensated, the witness must
provide the following:
(1) The sum to which he or she is entitled;
(2) A description of the expenses for which he or she is
seeking reimbursement;
(3) The identity of the party for whom the witness appeared;
(c) If the witness appeared before the House of Delegates or
one of its committees, he or she shall request payment from the
clerk of the House of Delegates. If the witness appeared before
either the Senate or one of its committees, the Joint Committee on
Government and Finance, or a joint interim committee, he or she
shall request payment from the clerk of the Senate. The witness must
provide the clerk with the same information described in subsection
(b) of this section.
(d) A witness summoned or recognized to attend in several cases
may have the entry made against claim reimbursement for expenses or
compensation from any one of the parties by whom he
or she is
summoned, or for whom he
or she is sworn as a witness, but no
witness shall
be allowed claim reimbursement for expenses or be
compensated for his
or her attendance in more than one case at the
same time.
But no compensation shall be allowed to a witness
(e) Under no circumstances may a resident witness be
compensated for appearing before a grand jury.
This section shall
not apply to witnesses before justices of the peace.
CHAPTER 62. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.
ARTICLE 6A. SECURING ATTENDANCE OF NONRESIDENT WITNESSES.
§62-6A-3. Summoning witness in another state to testify in this
state.
(a) If a person in any state, which by its laws has made
provisions for commanding persons within its borders to attend and
testify in criminal prosecutions, or grand jury investigations
commenced or about to commence, in this state, is a material witness
in a prosecution pending in a court of record in this state, or in
a grand jury investigation which has commenced or is about to
commence, a judge of
such the court may issue a certificate under
the seal of the court stating the facts and specifying the number
of days the witness will be required.
Said The certificate may
include a recommendation that the witness be taken into immediate
custody and delivered to an officer of this state to assure his
or
her attendance in this state. This certificate shall be presented to a judge of a court of record in the county in which the witness
is found.
(b) If the witness is summoned to attend and testify in this
state he
or she shall be tendered the sum of ten cents a mile for
each mile by the ordinary travel route to and from the court where
the prosecution is pending, and five dollars for each day that he
is required to travel and attend as a witness. shall be reimbursed
or compensated pursuant to the provisions of section sixteen,
article one, chapter fifty-nine of this code.
(c) A witness who has appeared in accordance with the
provisions of the summons shall not be required to remain within
this state a longer period of time than the period mentioned in the
certificate, unless otherwise ordered by the court. If such
witness, after coming into this state, fails without good cause to
attend and testify as directed in the summons, he
or she shall be
punished in the manner provided for in the punishment of any witness
who disobeys a summons issued from a court of record in this state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the rate paid to
all witnesses to the same rate paid to jurors.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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