Senate Bill No. 601
(By Senators Kessler, Mitchell and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 22, 1999; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section six, article four, chapter
seven of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to expanding
sources of funding for the West Virginia prosecuting
attorneys' special revenue fund.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six, article four, chapter seven of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. PROSECUTING ATTORNEY, REWARDS AND LEGAL ADVICE.
§7-4-6. West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute.
(a) There is hereby created the West Virginia prosecuting
attorneys institute, a public body whose membership shall consist
of the fifty-five elected county prosecuting attorneys in the state. The institute shall meet at least once each calendar year
and the presence of twenty-eight of the fifty-five prosecutors at
any meeting constitutes a quorum for the conduct of the
institute's business.
(b) There is hereby created the executive council of the
West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute which shall consist
of five prosecuting attorneys elected by the membership of the
West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute at its annual
meeting and two persons appointed annually by the county
commissioner's association of West Virginia. The executive
council shall elect one member of the council to serve as
chairman of the institute for a term of one year without
compensation. The executive council shall serve as the regular
executive body of the institute.
(c) There is hereby created the position of executive
director of the West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute to
be employed by the executive council of the institute. The
executive director of the West Virginia prosecuting attorneys
institute shall serve at the will and pleasure of the executive
council of the institute at an annual salary of fifty thousand
dollars per year. The executive director shall be licensed to
practice law in the state of West Virginia and shall devote full
time to his or her official duties and may not engage in the
private practice of law.
(d) The duties and responsibilities of the institute, as
implemented by and through its executive council and its
executive director, shall include the following:
(1) To provide for special prosecuting attorneys to pursue
a criminal matter in any county upon the request of a circuit
court judge of that county and upon the approval of the executive
council;
(2) To establish and to implement general and specialized
training programs for prosecuting attorneys and their
professional staffs;
(3) To provide materials for prosecuting attorneys and their
professional staffs, including legal research, technical
assistance and technical and professional publications;
(4) To compile and disseminate information on behalf of
prosecuting attorneys and their professional staffs on current
developments and changes in the law and the administration of
criminal justice;
(5) To establish and to implement uniform reporting
procedures for prosecuting attorneys and their professional
staffs in order to maintain and to provide accurate and timely
data and information relative to criminal prosecutorial matters;
(6) To accept and expend funds, grants and gifts and accept
services from any public or private source;
(7) To enter into agreements and contracts with public or private agencies or educational institutions;
(8) To identify experts and other resources for use by
prosecutors in criminal matters;
(9) To make recommendations to the Legislature or the
supreme court of appeals of the state of West Virginia on
measures required, or procedural rules to be promulgated, to make
uniform the processing of juvenile cases in the fifty-five
counties of the state; and
(10) To develop a written handbook for prosecutors and their
assistants to use which delineates relevant information
concerning the elements of various crimes in West Virginia and
other information as the institute deems appropriate.
(e) Each prosecuting attorney is subject to appointment by
the institute to serve as a special prosecuting attorney in any
county where the prosecutor for that county or his or her office
has been disqualified from participating in a particular criminal
case. The circuit judge of any county of this state, who
disqualifies the prosecutor or his or her office from
participating in a particular criminal case in that county, shall
seek the appointment by the institute of a special prosecuting
attorney to substitute for the disqualified prosecutor. The
executive director of the institute shall, upon written request
to the institute by any circuit judge as a result of
disqualification of the prosecutor or for other good cause shown, and upon approval of the executive council, appoint a prosecuting
attorney to serve as a special prosecuting attorney. The special
prosecuting attorney appointed shall serve without any further
compensation other than that paid to him or her by his or her
county, except that he or she is entitled to be reimbursed for
his or her legitimate expenses associated with travel, mileage
and room and board from the county to which he or she is
appointed as a prosecutor. The county commission in which county
he or she is special prosecutor is responsible for all expenses
associated with the prosecution of the criminal action.
(f) The executive director of the institute shall maintain
an appointment list that shall include the names of all
fifty-five prosecuting attorneys and that shall also include the
names of any assistant prosecuting attorney who wishes to serve
as a special prosecuting attorney upon the same terms and
conditions as set forth in this section. The executive director
of the institute, with the approval of the executive council,
shall appoint special prosecuting attorneys from the appointment
list for any particular matter giving due consideration to the
proximity of the proposed special prosecuting attorney's home
county to the county requesting a special prosecutor and giving
due consideration to the expertise of the special prosecuting
attorney.
(g) Commencing on the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-six, each county commission shall pay, on a
monthly basis, a special prosecution premium to the treasurer of
the state for the funding of the West Virginia prosecuting
attorneys institute. The monthly premiums shall be paid
according to the following schedule:
MONTHLY PREMIUMS
Assessed Valuation of Property
of All Classes in the County
CategoryMinimum MaximumPremium
A$1,500,000,000 Unlimited$400
B$1,000,000,000$1,499,999,000$375
C$ 800,000,000$ 999,999,000$350
D$ 700,000,000$ 799,999,000$325
E$ 600,000,000$ 699,999,000$300
F$ 500,000,000$ 599,999,000$250
G$ 400,000,000$ 499,999,000$200
H$ 300,000,000$ 399,999,000$150
I$ 200,000,000$ 299,999,000$100
J -0-$ 199,999,000$ 50
Upon receipt of a premium,
grant, reimbursement or other
funding source, excluding federal funds as provided in article
two, chapter four of this code, the treasurer shall deposit the
premium into a special revenue fund to be known as the "West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute Fund". All costs of
operating the West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute shall
be paid from the West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute
fund upon proper authorization by the executive council or by the
executive director of the institute and subject to annual
appropriation by the Legislature of the amounts contained within
the fund.
(h) The West Virginia prosecuting attorneys institute shall
continue to exist until the first day of July, two thousand one,
unless continued by an act of the Legislature. The institute
shall annually by the first day of the regular legislative
session provide the joint committee on government and finance
with a report setting forth the activities of the institute and
suggestions for legislative action.
(i) Neither the institute nor its employees acting in their
employment capacity shall engage in activities before
governmental bodies which advocate positions on issues other than
those issues consistent with the duties of the institute set
forth in subsection (d) of this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to expand sources of
funding for the West Virginia prosecuting attorneys' special
revenue fund.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.