Senate Bill No. 452
(By Senators Sharpe and Minard)
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[Introduced February 5, 2004; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-3-39h of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to removing the requirement that
funds expended from the worthless check fund to pay for
additional deputy clerks be proportionate to the time expended
on worthless check cases.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-3-39h of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. CRIMES AGAINST PROPERTY.
§61-3-39h. Payment of costs in worthless check cases; disposition
of certain costs.
In any prosecution under sections thirty-nine or thirty-nine-a
of this article
such the costs as may otherwise be imposed against
the drawer of any
such check, draft or order shall be imposed on
the person initiating the prosecution if payment of the check, draft or order is accepted by the payee or holder thereof after the
filing of a complaint for warrant; if the payee or holder had
reason to believe that the check, draft or order would be
dishonored or if the same was postdated; or if the matter is
dismissed for failure to prosecute.
Costs collected by magistrate court for issuance of notice as
authorized by section thirty-nine-g of this article
shall may not
be paid into the special county fund created by the provisions of
section four, article three, chapter fifty of this code, but shall
be accounted for separately and retained by the county in a fund
designated the "worthless check fund," until the sheriff shall
issue warrants in furtherance of the allowable expenses
specifically provided for by this section. Such costs
shall may
not be included in any calculation of the amount of funds to be
retained by the county under the provisions of section four,
article three, chapter fifty of this code.
A county may, after agreement with the court administrator's
office of the supreme court of appeals, appropriate and spend from
the worthless check fund herein established such sums as shall be
necessary to pay or defray the expenses of providing a deputy
sheriff to serve warrants for worthless check offenses and to pay
or defray the expenses of providing additional deputy clerks in the
office of the magistrate court clerk to process cases involving
worthless checks.
Provided, That sums agreed to be appropriated for such deputy sheriffs or deputy clerks shall be proportionate to
the time such employees devote to worthless check cases After
payment of
such these expenses, or after a determination that
such
these services are not necessary, a county may appropriate and
spend from
such the fund
such the sums
as shall be necessary to
defray the expenses of providing bailiff and service of process
services by the sheriff, to defray the cost of acquiring or renting
magistrate court offices and providing utilities and telephones
therefor to defray the cost of complying with section thirty-nine-i
herein and to defray the expenses of such other services which are
to be provided to magistrate courts by the county.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
remove the requirement
that funds expended from the worthless check fund to pay for
additional deputy clerks be proportionate to the time expended on
worthless check cases providing for more efficient use of manpower
and preventing non-compliance of the law.
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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