Bill Text: WV HB2411 | 2018 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to Public Defender Services
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-10 - To House Judiciary [HB2411 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2018-HB2411-Introduced.html
FISCAL
NOTE
WEST virginia Legislature
2017 regular session
By
to the Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend and
reenact §29-21-13a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to
Public Defender Services; increasing the hourly rate for attorneys for in court
and out of court work including investigative services; permitting attorneys
who spend at least 1200 hours a year on court appointed cases to enroll in the
Public Employees Insurance Agency plans; and requiring the executive director
to propose rules, for legislative approval, that relate to requirements for the
attorneys to enroll in the plans.
Be it enacted by the Legislature
of West Virginia:
That §29-21-13a of the
Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 21. PUBLIC
DEFENDER SERVICES.
§29-21-13a. Compensation
and expenses for panel attorneys.
(a) All panel attorneys
shall maintain detailed and accurate records of the time expended and expenses
incurred on behalf of eligible clients, and upon completion of each case,
exclusive of appeal, shall submit to the appointing court a voucher for services.
Claims for fees and expense reimbursements shall be submitted to the appointing
court on forms approved by the executive director. The executive director shall
establish guidelines for the submission of vouchers and claims for fees and
expense reimbursements under this section. Claims submitted more than ninety
calendar days after the last date of service shall be rejected, unless for good
cause, the appointing court authorizes in writing an extension: Provided,
That claims where the last date of service occurred prior to July 1, 2008,
shall be rejected unless submitted prior to January 1, 2009.
The appointing court shall
review the voucher to determine if the time and expense claims are reasonable,
necessary and valid, and shall forward the voucher to the agency with an order
approving payment of the claimed amount or of a lesser sum the court considers
appropriate.
(b) Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section to the contrary, Public Defender Services may
pay by direct bill, prior to the completion of the case, litigation expenses
incurred by attorneys appointed under this article.
(c) Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section to the contrary, a panel attorney may be
compensated for services rendered and reimbursed for expenses incurred prior to
the completion of the case where: (1) More than six months have expired since
the commencement of the panel attorney's representation in the case; and (2) no
prior payment of attorney fees has been made to the panel attorney by Public
Defender Services during the case. The executive director, in his or her
discretion, may authorize periodic payments where ongoing representation
extends beyond six months in duration. The amounts of any fees or expenses paid
to the panel attorney on an interim basis, when combined with any amounts paid
to the panel attorney at the conclusion of the case, shall not exceed the
limitations on fees and expenses imposed by this section.
(d) In each case in which a
panel attorney provides legal representation under this article, and in each
appeal after conviction in circuit court, the panel attorney shall be
compensated at the following rates for actual and necessary time expended for
services performed and expenses incurred subsequent to the effective date of
this article:
(1) For attorney's work
performed out of court, compensation shall be at the rate of $45 $75
per hour. For paralegal's work performed out of court for the attorney,
compensation shall be at the rate of the paralegal's regular compensation on an
hourly basis or, if salaried, at the hourly rate of compensation which would
produce the paralegal's current salary, but in no event shall the compensation
exceed $20 per hour. Out-of-court work includes, but is not limited to, travel,
interviews of clients or witnesses, preparation of pleadings and prehearing or
pretrial research.
(2) For attorney's work
performed in court, compensation shall be at the rate of $65 $95
per hour. No compensation for paralegal's work performed in court shall be
allowed. In-court work includes, but is not limited to, all time spent awaiting
hearing or trial before a judge, magistrate, special master or other judicial
officer.
(3) The maximum amount of
compensation for out-of-court and in-court work under this subsection is as
follows: For proceedings of any kind involving felonies for which a penalty of
life imprisonment may be imposed, the amount as the court may approve; for all
other eligible proceedings, $3,000 $6,000 unless the court, for
good cause shown, approves payment of a larger sum.
(e) Actual and necessary
expenses incurred in providing legal representation for proceedings of any kind
involving felonies for which a penalty of life imprisonment may be imposed,
including, but not limited to, expenses for travel, transcripts, salaried or
contracted investigative services and expert witnesses, shall be reimbursed in
an amount as the court may approve. For all other eligible proceedings, actual
and necessary expenses incurred in providing legal representation, including,
but not limited to, expenses for travel, transcripts, salaried or contracted
investigative services and expert witnesses, shall be reimbursed to a maximum
of $1,500 unless the court, for good cause shown, approves reimbursement of a
larger sum.
Expense vouchers shall
specifically set forth the nature, amount and purpose of expenses incurred and
shall provide receipts, invoices or other documentation required by the
executive director and the State Auditor:
(1) (A) Reimbursement of
expenses for production of transcripts of proceedings reported by a court
reporter is limited to the cost per original page and per copy page as set
forth in section four, article seven, chapter fifty-one of this code.
(B) (i) There shall be no
reimbursement of expenses for or production of a transcript of a preliminary
hearing before a magistrate or juvenile referee, or of a magistrate court
trial, where such hearing or trial has also been recorded electronically in
accordance with the provisions of section eight, article five, chapter fifty of
this code or court rule.
(ii) Reimbursement of the
expense of an appearance fee for a court reporter who reports a proceeding
other than one described in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph is limited to
$25. Where a transcript of a proceeding is produced, there shall be no
reimbursement for the expense of any appearance fee.
(iii) Except for the
appearance fees provided in this paragraph, there shall be no reimbursement for
hourly court reporters' fees or fees for other time expended by the court reporter,
either at the proceeding or traveling to or from the proceeding.
(C) Reimbursement of the
cost of transcription of tapes electronically recorded during preliminary
hearings or magistrate court trials is limited to $1 per page.
(2) Reimbursement for any
travel expense incurred in an eligible proceeding is limited to the rates for
the reimbursement of travel expenses established by rules promulgated by the
Governor pursuant to the provisions of section eleven, article eight, chapter
twelve of this code and administered by the Secretary of the Department of
Administration pursuant to the provisions of section forty-eight, article
three, chapter five-a of this code.
(3) Reimbursement for
investigative services is limited to a rate of $30 $60 per hour
for work performed by an investigator.
(f) For purposes of
compensation under this section, an appeal from magistrate court to circuit
court, an appeal from a final order of the circuit court or a proceeding
seeking an extraordinary remedy made to the Supreme Court of Appeals shall be
considered a separate case.
(g) Vouchers submitted
under this section shall specifically set forth the nature of the service
rendered, the stage of proceeding or type of hearing involved, the date and
place the service was rendered and the amount of time expended in each
instance. All time claimed on the vouchers shall be itemized to the nearest
tenth of an hour. If the charge against the eligible client for which services
were rendered is one of several charges involving multiple warrants or
indictments, the voucher shall indicate the fact and sufficiently identify the
several charges so as to enable the court to avoid a duplication of
compensation for services rendered. The executive director shall refuse to
requisition payment for any voucher which is not in conformity with the
recordkeeping, compensation or other provisions of this article or the voucher
guidelines established issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and in
such circumstance shall return the voucher to the court or to the service
provider for further review or correction.
(h) Vouchers submitted
under this section after July 1, 2008, shall be reimbursed within ninety days
of receipt. Reimbursements after ninety days shall bear interest from the
ninety-first day at the legal rate in effect for the calendar year in which
payment is due.
(i) Vouchers submitted for
fees and expenses involving child abuse and neglect cases shall be processed
for payment before processing vouchers submitted for all other cases.
(j) Attorneys who spend
at least 1200 hours per year on court appointed cases may be considered
employees of the state for purposes of eligibility to enroll for insurance
coverage under the Public Employees Insurance Act in article sixteen, chapter
five of this code. The executive
director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code in order to determine the
requirements for court appointed attorneys to enroll in the Public Employees
Insurance Agency plans.
NOTE:
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from a heading or the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added..