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Introduced Version House Bill 4734 History

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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 4734


(By Delegates Webb, Webster and Amores)
[Introduced
February 27, 2004 ; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions then the Judiciary.]




A BILL to amend and reenact §8-11-1 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to providing that municipalities are free of legal prohibitions to raise fines for municipal ordinance violations, with the only restriction being that the amount of the fine be reasonable.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-11-1 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11. POWERS AND DUTIES WITH RESPECT TO ORDINANCES AND ORDINANCE PROCEDURES.

§8-11-1. Ordinances to make municipal powers effective; penalties imposed under judgment of mayor or police court or municipal judge; right to injunctive relief; right to maintain action to collect fines; additional assessment of costs.
(a) To carry into effect the powers and authority conferred upon any municipality or its governing body by the provisions of this chapter, or any past or future act of the Legislature of this state, the governing body has plenary power and authority to:
(1) Make and pass all needful ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions and rules and regulations not contrary to the constitution and laws of this state; and
(2) Prescribe reasonable penalties for violation of its ordinances, orders, bylaws, acts, resolutions and rules, and regulations, in the form of fines, forfeitures and confinement in the county or regional jail or the place of confinement in the municipality, if there is one, for a term not exceeding thirty days.
(b) The fines, forfeitures and confinement shall be recovered, imposed or enforced under the judgment of the mayor of the municipality or the individual lawfully exercising the mayor's functions, or the police court judge or municipal court judge of a city, if there is one, and may be suspended upon reasonable conditions as may be imposed by the mayor, other authorized individual or judge.
(c) Any municipality may also maintain a civil action in the name of the municipality in the circuit court of the county in which the municipality or the major portion of the territory of the municipality is located to obtain an injunction to compel compliance with, or to enjoin a violation or threatened violation of, any ordinance of the municipality, and the circuit court has jurisdiction to grant the relief sought. A certified transcript of a judgment for a fine rendered by a municipal court may be filed in the office of the clerk of a circuit court and docketed in the judgment lien book kept in the office of the clerk of the county commission in the same manner and with the same effect as the filing and docketing of a certified transcript of judgment rendered by a magistrate court as provided for in section two, article six, chapter fifty of this code. The judgment shall include costs assessed against the defendant.
(d) In addition to any other costs which may be lawfully imposed, an additional cost shall be imposed in an amount of not less than forty-two dollars for a traffic offense constituting a moving violation, regardless of whether the penalty for the violation provides for a period of incarceration, and for any other offense for which the ordinance prescribing the offense provides for a period of incarceration. Of the forty-two dollars imposed as an additional cost, two dollars are administrative costs to be retained by the municipality, and forty dollars shall be paid into the regional jail and correctional facility development fund in the state treasury in accordance with section one-a of this article.
(e) Execution shall be by fieri facias issued by the clerk of the circuit court in the same manner as writs are issued on judgments for a fine rendered by circuit courts or other courts of record under the provisions of section eleven, article four, chapter sixty-two of this code.
(f) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any municipality may prescribe the amount of any fine for the violation of any ordinance, with the only restriction being that it comply with subdivision (2), subsection (a) of this section.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that municipalities are free of legal prohibitions to raise fines for municipal ordinance violations, with the only restriction being that the amount of the fine be reasonable.

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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