The Judiciary Committee met Thursday and discussed Senate Bill 40, which establishes a Military Service Members Court program.
This bill seeks to reinvigorate the Military Service Members Court- a program which was once an operative wing of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
The court is similar to the Adult Drug Court and Addiction Treatment Pilot Program but focuses on military veterans and their particular issues. The program has proven its value to combat veterans suffering from a spectrum of battlefield issues like PTSD and traumatic brain injury which often lead to a mental health disorder, cognitive impairment and/or substance abuse.
Once under the auspices of the state Supreme Court, former Justice Allen Loughry eliminated the program for financial reasons. The bill seeks to reinstitute the Military Service Members Court by legislation, with an operative organizational structure.
Senate Bill 360 relates to third party litigation financing. The purpose of this bill is provide consumer protections with regard to third-party litigation financing transactions. Third-party litigation financing is currently unregulated in West Virginia.
With the passage of this bill, West Virginia would join a growing number of states that have seen fit to enact statutory consumer protection laws governing third-party litigation financing. Other states that have enacted such laws include Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Indiana, Vermont, Wisconsin and New York.
The bill was advanced out of committee and reported to the House.
The committee also took up Senate Bill 531, which relates generally to workers’ compensation claims. This bill seeks to exclude claims for hearing loss or hearing impairment form the requirement that workers’ compensation claimants must be represented by counsel to enter a settlement agreement. The committee advanced the bill, which will be reported to the House.
The committee also advanced to the House floor Senate Bill 101, which equalizes penalties for intimidating and retaliating against certain public officers and other persons. This bill establishes criminal penalties for “intimidation” and “retaliation” crimes.
The crime of intimidation with the intent to influence a judicial proceeding carries a misdemeanor penalty, while the crime of retaliation for the outcome of such a proceeding carries a felony.
The committee also considered Senate Bill 237, which would improve the ability of law enforcement to locate and return missing persons. The bill provides minimum steps for all law-enforcement agencies receiving and investigating missing person complaints. The bill requires a law-enforcement agency with jurisdiction to accept a missing person complaint and specifies the minimum information that law-enforcement agencies must attempt to collect from a complainant.
The bill also requires law-enforcement agencies receiving a missing person complaint to ensure that a report of the complaint and relevant information is entered into the state-level West Virginia Automated Police Network and when applicable, several other national databases, including those maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The bill will be reported to the House.
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