The Senate Judiciary met Friday morning to talk about an intermediate court bill.
Senate Bill 266 would introduce a West Virginia Intermediate Court of Appeals. This is the fifth year that the Senate has introduced an intermediate court bill.
There would one be one Court of Appeals, which would consist of three judges. Judges would serve for a ten-year term, and are eligible for reappointment. Qualifying judges must be a member of the West Virginia Bar, practice law in the state for ten years, and may not be engaged in practicing law while serving. Their annual salary will be $130,000 per year and will include retirement benefits.
The Appellate Court would have decisions in:
· Circuit courts in civil, guardianship, and conservatorship cases
· Family courts
· Administrative agencies
· The Workers’ Compensation Board of Review
The Court would have jurisdictional limitations in:
· Criminal proceedings
· Juvenile proceedings
· Child abuse and neglect proceedings
· Mental hygiene proceedings
· Cases involving challenges to election practices
· Appeals from Public Service Commission
Evan Jenkins, State Supreme Court Justice, attended the meeting to answer any questions members had about the implications an appellate court would have in West Virginia.
The bill was not voted on, and will be on next week’s agenda.
The Committee also discussed Bundle 7, which included 12 other bills.
One of those bills was Senate Bill 178 which relates to the Lottery Commission and West Virginia Lottery sports wagering. The bill would require regulatory requirements to sports betting in the state for operators. Those requirements would include:
· Operators must follow the video surveillance and security standards for cashier’s cages.
· Operators must maintain a minimum cash reserve that is adequate to cover the outstanding sports pool.
· Operators must obtain a pre-launch and annual system integrity and security assessment by a licensed, independent professional.
· Operators must follow a policy of investigating and responding to patron complaints within ten calendar days.
· Operators may only accept wagers from patrons located in the state of West Virginia while placing the wager.
· Operators must provide the Lottery Commission with direct access to all sports betting systems.
The Committee approved the bundle, and was reported to the Senate to be voted upon.
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