Senate Bill No. 447
(By Senators Kessler and McKenzie)
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[Introduced February 4, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §8-10-2b of the code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact
§17B-3-9 of said code, all relating to the powers and duties
of municipal courts; failure to appear for municipal court
hearings; failure to pay municipal court fines and fees;
cancellation, suspension and revocation of driver's
licenses; and establishing other penalties for failure to
appear or pay municipal court fines and fees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §8-10-2b of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §17B-3-9 of said code
be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 8. MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.
ARTICLE 10. POWERS AND DUTIES OF CERTAIN OFFICERS.
§8-10-2b. Suspension of licenses for failure to pay fines and
costs or failure to appear in court.
(a) If costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties imposed by the
municipal court upon conviction of a person for a criminal
offense as defined in section three-c, article three, chapter
seventeen-b of this code are not paid in full within one hundred
eighty days of the judgment, the municipal court clerk or, upon a
judgment rendered on appeal, the circuit clerk shall notify the
division of motor vehicles of
such the failure to pay:
Provided,
That at the time the judgment is imposed, the judge shall provide
the person with written notice that failure to pay the same as
ordered shall result in the suspension of
such the person's
license or privilege to operate a motor vehicle in this state and
that
such the suspension could result in the cancellation of, the
failure to renew or the failure to issue an automobile insurance
policy providing coverage for
such the person or
such the
person's family:
Provided, however, That the failure of the
judge to provide
such notice
shall does not affect the validity
of any suspension of
such the person's license or privilege to
operate a motor vehicle in this state. For purposes of this
section, payment shall be stayed during any period an appeal from the conviction which resulted in the imposition of
such costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties is pending.
Upon
such notice, the division of motor vehicles shall
suspend the person's driver's license or privilege to operate a
motor vehicle in this state until such time that the costs,
fines, forfeitures or penalties are paid.
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section to the
contrary, the notice of the failure to pay
such costs, fines,
forfeitures or penalties
shall may not be given where the
municipal court, upon application of the person upon whom the
same costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties were imposed filed
prior to the expiration of the period within which
the same these
are required to be paid, enters an order finding that
such the
person is financially unable to pay all or a portion of the
same
costs, fines, forfeitures or penalties: Provided, That where the
municipal court, upon finding that the person is financially
unable to pay a portion
thereof of the costs, fines, forfeitures
or penalties, requires the person to pay the remaining portion,
thereof the municipal court shall notify the division of motor
vehicles of
such the person's failure to pay
the same if the same
is if not paid within the period of time ordered by
such the
court.
(c) If a person charged with a criminal offense fails to
appear or otherwise respond in court, the municipal court shall
notify the division of motor vehicles
thereof within fifteen days
of the scheduled date to appear unless
such the person sooner
appears or otherwise responds in court to the satisfaction of the
judge. Upon
such notice, the division of motor vehicles shall
suspend the person's driver's license or privilege to operate a
motor vehicle in this state until such time that the person
appears as required send the licensee an order of suspension to
the address of record by certified mail, return receipt
requested. The order of suspension shall indicate that the
licensee's privilege to operate a motor vehicle is suspended as
of the date indicated on the order and that the suspension shall
continue until proof of compliance with the citation issued by
the municipal court is submitted and all applicable fees are
paid. The suspension order shall also include a notice to the
licensee that failure to answer the citation within ninety days
of receipt of the suspension order, may result in the withholding
of any income tax refund due the licensee. The date of
suspension shall be sixteen days after the division of motor
vehicles receives notification from the municipal court. The
municipal court judge may elect to reissue duplicate notices to the division of motor vehicles for licensees who remain
noncompliant, provided that the citation was not issued before
nineteen hundred, ninety-three. If the original notification can
not be located, the division of motor vehicles shall accept
additional or duplicate notice from the municipal court clerk.
If the division of motor vehicles does not receive proof of
compliance, the licensee's privilege to operate a motor vehicle
in this state shall remain suspended until such time as the
division receives proof of compliance with the terms of the
citation from the licensee, and the appropriate fees are paid.
If the licensee fails to respond to the division of motor
vehicles order of suspension within ninety days of receipt of the
certified letter, the municipal court of original jurisdiction
shall notify the secretary of the department of tax and revenue
that the licensee has failed to pay the fines assessed by the
court or has failed to respond to the citation. The secretary of
tax and revenue, or his or her designee, shall withhold from any
income tax return the fees or fines due to the municipality and
any and all fees that the municipal court would have collected
had the licensee appeared. After the fees and fines are
withheld, the secretary of tax and revenue shall refund any
remaining balance due the licensee. If the refund is not sufficient to cover all the fees and fines being withheld
pursuant to this section, then the secretary shall allocate the
money in the following manner: (1) Any fees or fines due to the
municipality; (2) the administrative fee, assessed by the
secretary of tax and revenue: Provided, That the fee may not
exceed twenty-five dollars; (3) seventy-five percent of the
remaining balance shall be paid to the appropriate regional jail
authority fund; (4) fifteen percent of the remaining balance
shall be paid to the crime victims compensation fund; (5) six
percent of the remaining balance shall be paid into the community
corrections fund; and (6) the final four percent shall be paid to
the governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training. When
the fees and fines exceed the licensees income tax refund, the
secretary of tax and revenue shall withhold the remaining balance
in subsequent years until such time as the fees and fines owed
the remaining funds are paid in full. The secretary of tax and
revenue shall remit the moneys that he or she collects to the
appropriate municipality, the regional jail and correctional
facility authority fund, crime victims compensation fund, the
West Virginia community corrections fund, and the governor's
subcommittee on law-enforcement training no later than the first
day of July of each calendar year.
CHAPTER 17B. MOTOR VEHICLE DRIVER'S LICENSES.
ARTICLE 3. CANCELLATION, SUSPENSION, AND REVOCATION OF LICENSES.
§17B-3-9. Surrender and return of license not required.
The division, upon suspending or revoking a license,
shall
may not require that the license be surrendered to and be
retained by the division. The surrender of a license
shall may
not be a precondition to the commencement and tolling of any
applicable period of suspension or revocation:
Provided, That
before the license may be reinstated, the licensee shall pay a
fee of fifteen dollars, in addition to all other fees and
charges, which shall be collected by the division and deposited
in a special revolving fund to be appropriated to the division
for use in the enforcement of the provisions of this section:
Provided, however, That when any license is suspended for failure
to maintain motor vehicle liability insurance
or for nonpayment
to, or failure to appear in, a municipal court, the reinstatement
fee is fifty dollars.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to create a way that
municipalities, the regional jail authority, the crime victims
compensation fund, the West Virginia community corrections fund,
and the governor's subcommittee on law-enforcement training can
recover moneys for fines and fees that is currently not
collectable due to failure to appear in municipal courts.
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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