Senate Bill No. 97
(By Senators Boley and Unger)
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[Introduced February 11, 2009; referred to the Committee on
Transportation and Infrastructure; and then to the Committee on
the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §17B-3-3a, §17B-3-3c and §17B-3-4 of
the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, all relating to
providing that accessible parking violations will be
considered motor vehicle violations and criminal offenses for
certain penalty and record-keeping purposes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §17B-3-3a, §17B-3-3c and §17B-3-4 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CANCELLATION, SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF LICENSES.
§17B-3-3a. Suspending license for failure to pay fines or
penalties imposed by magistrate court or municipal
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 magistrate court
or municipal court of this state, pursuant to subsection (b),
section two-a, article three, chapter fifty of this code or
subsection (b), section two-a, article ten, chapter eight of this
code, that such person has defaulted on the payment of costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties which were imposed on the person by
the magistrate court or municipal court by judgment entered upon
conviction of any motor vehicle violation or that such person has
failed to respond or appear in court when charged with a motor
vehicle violation.
(b) The magistrate court or municipal court shall notify the
division upon a default of payment as follows:
(1) For a resident of this state, after one hundred eighty
days following the date of judgment upon the conviction; or
(2) For a nonresident of this state, after eighty days
following the date of judgment upon the conviction.
(c) For the purposes of this section, section two-a, article
three, chapter fifty of this code and section two-a, article ten,
chapter eight of this code, "motor vehicle violation" shall be
defined as any violation designated in chapter seventeen-a,
seventeen-b, seventeen-c, seventeen-d or seventeen-e of this code
or the violation of any municipal ordinance relating to the
operation of a motor vehicle for which the violation thereof would result in a fine or penalty: Provided, That any
except for
an
accessible parking (formerly referred to as handicapped parking)
violation pursuant to chapter seventeen-c, article thirteen,
section six
of this code,
a
parking violation or other violation
for which a citation may be issued to an unattended vehicle shall
not be considered a motor vehicle violation for the purposes of
this section, section two-a, article three, chapter fifty of this
code or section two-a, article ten, chapter eight of this code.
§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 the court had required such the
person to pay the same, or that such the 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 a correctional facility of
this state: Provided, That,
except for
an accessible parking
(formerly referred to as handicapped parking) violation pursuant to
chapter seventeen-c, article thirteen, section six
of this code,
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 the 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 A 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 If 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-3-4. Abstract of judgment of conviction for violation of
motor vehicle laws to be sent to division.
Whenever a conviction is had in any court of record, or in a
justice's magistrate court, or in the police court or mayor's court
of any incorporated municipality, for the violation of any law of this state governing or regulating the licensing or operation of
any motor vehicle, or for the violation of any provision of a
charter, or bylaw, or ordinance of such incorporated municipality
governing or regulating the operation of motor vehicles, except
regulations governing standing or parking, the clerk of every such
court, or the justice magistrate, or the clerk or recorder of such
municipality, as the case may be, shall in each case transmit to
the division within seventy-two hours after such the conviction is
had a certified abstract of the judgment on such conviction:
Provided, That an accessible parking (formerly referred to as
handicapped parking) violation pursuant to section six, article
thirteen, chapter seventeen-c of this code is subject to the
requirements of this section.
For the purposes of this chapter, a forfeiture of bail or
collateral deposited to secure a defendant's appearance in court,
which forfeiture has not been vacated, shall be equivalent to a
conviction.
Wilful Willful failure, refusal or neglect to comply with the
provisions of this section shall subject the person who is guilty
thereof to a fine of not less than $10 nor more than $50 and may be
the grounds for removal from office.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that accessible
parking (formerly referred to as handicapped parking) violations
will be considered motor vehicle violations and criminal offenses
for certain penalty and record keeping purposes.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.