Senate Bill No. 66
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Caruth,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Introduced January 11, 2007; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §62-11C-4 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the West Virginia Community
Corrections Fund; and establishing fee collected from persons
on home incarceration.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §62-11C-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11C. THE WEST VIRGINIA COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS ACT.
§62-11C-4. Special revenue account.
(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special
revenue account to be known as the "West Virginia Community
Corrections Fund". Expenditures from the fund are for the purposes
set forth in subsection (e) of this section and are not authorized
from collections but are to be made only in accordance with
appropriation by the Legislature and in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twelve of this code and upon the fulfillment of the provisions set forth in article two, chapter
five-a of this code. The West Virginia Community Corrections Fund
may receive any gifts, grants, contributions or other money from
any source which is specifically designated for deposit in the
fund.
(b) Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand six, in
addition to the fee required in section nine, article twelve of
this chapter, a fee not to exceed thirty-five dollars per month,
unless modified by legislative rule as provided in section three of
this article, is also to be collected from those persons on
probation. This fee is to be based upon the person's ability to
pay. The magistrate or circuit judge shall conduct a hearing prior
to imposition of probation and make a determination on the record
that the offender is able to pay the fee without undue hardship.
The magistrate clerk or circuit clerk shall collect all fees
imposed pursuant to this subsection and deposit them in a separate
account. Within ten calendar days following the beginning of the
calendar month, the magistrate clerk or circuit clerk shall forward
the amount deposited to the State Treasurer to be credited to the
West Virginia Community Corrections Fund.
(c) Beginning on the
effective date of this article first day
of July, two thousand seven, in addition to the fee required in
section five, article eleven-b of this chapter, a fee
not to exceed
of not less than two dollars fifty cents per day nor more than five
dollars per day
unless modified by legislative rule as provided in
section three of this article, is also to be collected from those persons on home incarceration. The circuit judge, magistrate or
municipal court judge shall consider the person's ability to pay in
determining the imposition and amount of the fee. The circuit
clerk, magistrate clerk or municipal court clerk shall collect all
fees imposed pursuant to this subsection and deposit them in a
separate account. Within ten calendar days following the beginning
of the calendar month, the circuit clerk or municipal court clerk
shall forward the amount deposited to the State Treasurer to be
credited to the West Virginia Community Corrections Fund.
(d) Beginning on the first day of July, two thousand six, in
addition to the usual court costs in any criminal case taxed
against any defendant convicted in a municipal, magistrate or
circuit court, excluding municipal parking ordinances, a ten-dollar
fee shall be added. The circuit clerk, magistrate clerk or
municipal court clerk shall collect all fees imposed pursuant to
this subsection and deposit them in a separate account. Within ten
calendar days following the beginning of the calendar month, the
circuit clerk, magistrate court clerk and the municipal court clerk
shall forward the amount deposited to the State Treasurer to be
credited to the West Virginia Community Corrections Fund.
(e) The moneys of the West Virginia Community Corrections Fund
are to be disbursed by the Governor's Committee on Crime,
Delinquency and Correction, upon recommendation by the community
corrections subcommittee, for the funding of community corrections
programs and to pay expenses of the Governor's Committee in
administering the provisions of this article, which expenses may not in any fiscal year exceed ten percent of the funds deposited to
the special revenue account during that fiscal year.
(f) Any disbursements from the West Virginia Community
Corrections Fund allocated for community corrections programs by
the Governor's Committee may be made contingent upon local
appropriations or gifts in money or in kind for the support of the
programs. Any county commission of any county or the governing body
of a municipality may appropriate and expend money for establishing
and maintaining community corrections programs.
(g) Nothing in this article may be construed to mandate
funding for the West Virginia Community Corrections Fund or to
require any appropriation by the Legislature.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase revenue to the
West Virginia Community Corrections Fund.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.