H. B. 2809
(By Delegate Beane)
[Introduced February 24, 1995; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section three, article five-a,
chapter thirty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend
and reenact section two, article five-b of said chapter,
all relating to liens; suggestions of salary and wages and
state and subdivisions; and authorizing the issuance of
suggestions without the necessity of a writ of execution
being issued.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section three, article five-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that section two, article five-b of
said chapter be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. SUGGESTIONS OF SALARY AND WAGES OF PERSONS ENGAGED
IN PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT.
§38-5A-3. Application for suggestee execution against salary or
wages; extent of lien and continuing levy;
exemption; priority among suggestee executions.
A judgment creditor may apply to the court in which the
judgment was recovered or a court having jurisdiction of the
same, without notice to the judgment debtor,
and without having
a writ of execution issued, for a suggestee execution against any
money due or to become due within one year after the issuance of
such execution to the judgment debtor as salary or wages arising
out of any private employment. If satisfactory proof shall be
made, by affidavit or otherwise, of such facts and the fact that
the amount due or to become due as salary or wages after the
deduction of all state and federal taxes exceeds in any week
thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect, the
court, if not a court of record, or if a court of record, the
clerk thereof, shall issue a suggestee execution against the
salary or wages of the judgment debtor and upon presentation of such execution by the officer to whom delivered for collection to
the person or persons from which such salary or wages are due and
owing or thereafter may become due and owing to the judgment
debtor, the execution and the expenses thereof shall become a
lien and continuing levy upon the salary or wages due or to
become due to the judgment debtor within one year after the
issuance of the same, unless sooner vacated or modified as
hereinafter provided, to an amount equal to twenty per centum
thereof and no more, but in no event shall the payments in
satisfaction of such an execution reduce the amount payable to
the judgment debtor to an amount per week that is less than
thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect.
Only one such execution shall be satisfied, at one time, except
that in the event two or more such executions have been served
and satisfaction of the one having priority is completed without
exhausting the amount of the salary or wages then due and payable
that is subject to suggestion under this article the balance of
such amount shall be paid in satisfaction, in the order of their
priority, of junior suggestee executions against such salary or
wages theretofore served.
ARTICLE 5B. SUGGESTION OF THE STATE AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS;
GARNISHMENT AND SUGGESTION OF PUBLIC OFFICERS.
§38-5B-2. Application for suggestee execution against money
from state, state agency or political subdivision;
extent of lien and continuing levy; priority among
suggestee executions.
A judgment creditor may apply to the court in which the
judgment was recovered or a court having jurisdiction of the
same, without notice to the judgment debtor,
and without having
a writ of execution issued, for a suggestee execution against any
money due or to become due within one year after the issuance of
the same to the judgment debtor from the state, a state agency,
or any political subdivision of the state. If satisfactory proof
shall be made, by affidavit or otherwise, of such facts, and,
where the execution is sought against salary or wages, of the
fact that the amount due or to become due as salary or wages
after the deduction of state and federal taxes exceeds in any
week thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect,
the court, if not a court of record, or if a court of record, the
clerk thereof, shall issue a suggestee execution against such
money due or to become due to the judgment debtor, and there shall be entered on the face thereof the day and hour of
issuance.
Such execution and the expenses thereof shall, when served
by the officer to whom delivered for collection in the manner
hereinafter provided, upon the state, a state agency or political
subdivision from which such money is due or may thereafter become
due to the judgment debtor, become a lien and continuing levy
upon the sums due or to become due to the judgment debtor within
one year after the issuance of the same (but not to exceed twenty
per centum of the salary or wages due to such judgment debtor or
reduce the amount received by him per week to an amount less than
thirty times the federal minimum hourly wage then in effect)
unless sooner satisfied and paid, vacated or modified as
hereinafter provided.
Where more than one suggestee execution shall have been
issued pursuant to the provisions of this section against the
same judgment debtor, they shall be satisfied in the order of
priority in which they are served upon the state, state agency or
political subdivision from which such money is due or shall
become due. For purposes of determining such priority the time that an execution served by mail, as hereinafter provided shall
be received, and not the time of admission of service shall
control. In the case of two or more executions received in the
same mail delivery priority shall be accorded the one first
issued.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the issuance
of suggestions on salaries without the necessity of first having
a writ of execution issued.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.