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CHARLESTON -- An intermediate court of appeals is one step closer to becoming reality in West Virginia after a second House committee recommended the bill for passage.
In a 15-10 vote late Monday, the House Finance Committee recommended Senate Bill 275 for passage, approving a committee substitute for the bill by the House Judiciary Committee and rejecting multiple amendments.
The bill will be on first reading later today.
SB 275 would create an intermediate court of appeals between the circuit courts and the state Supreme Court.
The court would divide the state into a northern district based in Clarksburg and a southern district based in Beckley, though the courts would be free to travel to hear cases in their districts. Each district would consist of three judges.
These judges would hear appeals of circuit court criminal and civil cases, guardianships and conservatorships, family court cases and decisions made by administrative law judges, the Health Care Authority and Workers' Compensation Board of Review. Decisions by the intermediate court could be appealed to the state Supreme Court, which would return to hearing cases on a discretionary basis.
Minority party opposition to SB 275 Monday turned Democrats into small government conservatives, decrying creating another layer of bureaucracy and a new financial burden.
"I'm amazed to be on this side of an issue," said Delegate Larry Rowe, D-Kanawha. "I think, fairly, we're looking at a bureaucratic boondoggle. This is a costly court and a new bureaucracy that we're creating. The record of the House leadership in the last six years has not been toward creating new bureaucracy, but here it is."
Fiscal notes submitted by the Supreme Court and other state agencies estimate an intermediate court system could cost as much as $8.5 million to start up and $7.2 million in its first full year. Changes made by the House Judiciary Committee would eliminate any fiscal impact to the fiscal year 2021 budget being worked on now. SB 275 pushes out implementation of the court to Jan. 1, 2023, with judges to the court being elected in May 2022 and taking office Jan. 1, 2023.
"You all are just adding $8.5 million that's going to grow when you start adding courthouses," said Delegate Isaac Sponaugle, D-Pendleton. "This body impeached an entire branch of government two years ago, and now you're building them up as a government and adding more power to them for something we do not need."
Since 2011, the Supreme Court has operated under a rule that all appeals are a matter of right and has issued written decisions in all appeals. Prior to 2011, the Supreme Court only heard appeals at its discretion. Republicans pointed to two studies conducted on West Virginia's judicial system -- one in 1998 and one in 2010 -- that called for an intermediate court to be created.
"There have been a number of studies done examining our court system," said House Speaker Pro Tempore Daryl Cowles, R-Morgan. "I think we get sidetracked when we start looking at what town it goes in, what county, or what the caseload would be. We should focus on the ideas of justice and how we serve our people. … We should spend money to have a good proper organizational structure to our court system."
House Finance Vice Chairman Vernon Criss, R-Wood, said he hears from companies in Ohio that West Virginia's business tax environment and court system are hindrances.
"Understanding the positions of a lot of these companies, they look at these things and they put those things in a group and decide where to spend their money," Criss said. "We're going to continue down that road if we don't change some of these things."