HB 3106 Text

H. B. 3106

(By Delegates Webster, White, Fragale, Long, Moore, Hrutkay, Brown, Tabb, Miley, Fleischauer and Guthrie)
[Introduced February 16, 2007; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]

A BILL to amend and reenact §51-2A-3 and §51-2A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; relating to family courts; realigning family court districts; and increasing the number of family court judges.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-2A-3 and §51-2A-5 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2A. FAMILY COURTS.

§51-2A-3. Number of family court judges; assignment of family court judges by family court circuits.

(a) Until the first day of January, two thousand nine, a total of thirty-five family court judges shall serve throughout the state.
(b) Until the first day of January, two thousand nine, the state is divided into twenty-six family court circuits with the family court judges allocated as follows:
(1) The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio constitute the first family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(2) The counties of Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler constitute the second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(3) The counties of Pleasants, Ritchie, Wood and Wirt constitute the third family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(4) The counties of Doddridge, Roane, Calhoun and Gilmer constitute the fourth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(5) The counties of Mason and Jackson constitute the fifth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(6) The county of Cabell constitutes the sixth family court circuit and has two family court judges;
(7) The county of Wayne constitutes the seventh family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(8) The county of Mingo constitutes the eighth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(9) The county of Logan constitutes the ninth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(10) The counties of Lincoln and Boone constitute the tenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(11) The county of Kanawha constitutes the eleventh family court circuit and has four family court judges;
(12) The counties of McDowell and Mercer constitute the twelfth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(13) The counties of Raleigh and Wyoming constitute the thirteenth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(14) The counties of Fayette and Summers constitute the fourteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(15) The counties of Greenbrier and Monroe constitute the fifteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(16) The counties of Clay and Nicholas constitute the sixteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(17) The counties of Braxton, Lewis and Upshur constitute the seventeenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(18) The county of Harrison constitutes the eighteenth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(19) The county of Marion constitutes the nineteenth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(20) The county of Monongalia constitutes the twentieth family court circuit and has one family court judge;
(21) The counties of Barbour, Preston and Taylor constitute the twenty-first family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(22) The counties of Grant, Tucker and Randolph constitute the twenty-second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(23) The counties of Mineral, Hampshire and Morgan constitute the twenty-third family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(24) The counties of Berkeley and Jefferson constitute the twenty-fourth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(25) The counties of Hardy, Pendleton and Pocahontas constitute the twenty-fifth family court circuit and have one family court judge; and
(26) The county of Putnam constitutes the twenty-sixth family court circuit and has one family court judge.
(c) Beginning on the first day of January, two thousand nine, the family court circuits shall be realigned and adjusted to add an additional ten family court judges, so that a total of forty-five family court judges shall serve throughout the state, allocated among a total of twenty-six family court circuits as follows:
(1) The counties of Brooke, Hancock and Ohio shall constitute the first family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(2) The counties of Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler shall constitute the second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(3) The counties of Pleasants and Wood shall constitute the third family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(4) The counties of Wirt, Ritchie, Calhoun and Gilmer shall constitute the fourth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(5) The counties of Mason, Jackson and Roane shall constitute the fifth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(6) The county of Cabell shall constitute the sixth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(7) The county of Wayne shall constitute the seventh family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(8) The county of Mingo shall constitute the eighth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(9) The county of Logan shall constitute the ninth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(10) The counties of Lincoln and Boone shall constitute the tenth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(11) The county of Kanawha shall constitute the eleventh family court circuit and have five family court judges;
(12) The counties of McDowell and Mercer shall constitute the twelfth family court circuit and have three family court judges;
(13) The counties of Raleigh, Summers and Wyoming shall constitute the thirteenth family court circuit and have three family court judges;
(14) The county of Fayette shall constitute the fourteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(15) The counties of Greenbrier and Monroe shall constitute the fifteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(16) The counties of Clay, Nicholas and Webster shall constitute the sixteenth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(17) The counties of Braxton, Lewis and Upshur shall constitute the seventeenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(18) The counties of Harrison and Doddridge shall constitute the eighteenth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(19) The county of Marion shall constitute the nineteenth family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(20) The counties of Monongalia and Preston shall constitute the twentieth family court circuit and have two family court judges;
(21) The counties of Barbour and Taylor shall constitute the twenty-first family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(22) The counties of Tucker and Randolph shall constitute the twenty-second family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(23) The counties of Mineral, Hampshire and Morgan shall constitute the twenty-third family court circuit and have one family court judge;
(24) The counties of Berkeley and Jefferson shall constitute the twenty-fourth family court circuit and have three family court judges;
(25) The counties of Grant, Hardy, Pendleton and Pocahontas shall constitute the twenty-fifth family court circuit and have one family court judge; and
(26) The county of Putnam shall constitute the twenty-sixth family court circuit and have one family court judge.
~~(c)~~(d) The Legislature has the authority and may determine to realign the family court circuits and has the authority and may determine to increase or decrease the number of family court judges within a family court circuit, from time to time. Any person appointed or elected to the office of family court judge acknowledges the authority of the Legislature to realign family court circuits and the authority of the Legislature to increase or decrease the number of family court judges within a family court circuit.
§51-2A-5. Term of office of family court judge; initial appointment; elections.

(a) Before the first day of December, two thousand one, family court judges shall be appointed by the governor to serve in the family court circuits as provided for in section three of this article. The initial term of office for the family court judges first appointed shall commence on the first day of January, two thousand two, and end on the thirty-first day of December, two thousand two.
~~(b)~~ (a) Beginning with the primary and general elections to be conducted in the year two thousand two, family court judges shall be elected. In family court circuits having two or more family court judges there shall be, for election purposes, numbered divisions corresponding to the number of family court judges in each area. Each family court judge shall be elected at large by the entire family court circuit. In each numbered division of a family court circuit, the candidates for nomination or election shall be voted upon and the votes cast for the candidates in each division shall be tallied separately from the votes cast for candidates in other numbered divisions within the family court circuit. The candidate or candidates receiving the highest number of the votes cast within a numbered division shall be nominated or elected, as the case may be.
~~(c)~~ (b) The term of office for all family court judges elected in two thousand two shall be for six years, commencing on the first day of January, two thousand three, and ending on the thirty-first day of December, two thousand eight. Subsequent terms of office for family court judges elected thereafter shall be for eight years.
(c) The primary and general elections conducted in the year two thousand eight shall be conducted to fill the family court judge positions in the reconfigured districts set forth by subsection c, section three of this article, for terms to commence on the first day of January, two thousand nine.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the number of family court judges and realign certain districts to address excessive workloads and overcrowded dockets in various districts.

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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