CHARLESTON — The House Judiciary Committee narrowly passed a bill that would establish an intermediate appeals court in the state Friday.
Senate Bill 275 passed with an amendment that would add criminal cases. It passed by a 15-10 vote and is now scheduled to go before the House Finance Committee.
The House Judiciary Committee made several changes to the bill. The pushed the court's start date to January 2023.
The committee also created a provision that would allow those seeking to bypass the intermediate court only if their cases were not already covered by existing law. Child abuse and neglect cases, mental hygiene cases or West Virginia Public Service Commission appeals will still go straight to the Supreme Court.
Establishing the court will cost approximately $8.5 million.
The House Judiciary Committee begins discussions Friday about the bill. Similar bills have passed the Senate in recent years only to fade in the House.
"I’m grateful to this committee that you’re giving it consideration and attention," Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Trump (R-Morgan) said during the committee hearing. "This is four or five years on that bill, lots of variations, but I wouldn’t be doing that if I didn’t think it was important to the future of the state."
With the passage of the bill, the new court would hear most civil appeals from circuit courts instead of them going straight to the Supreme Court. It would have two districts with three judges on each half.
The intermediate court would hear appeals in civil cases, conservatorship and guardianship cases, and rulings from family court, administrative agencies and the Workers’ Compensation Board of Review. If the bill passes, it would also eliminate the Workers’ Compensation Office of Judges.
The Supreme Court would decide which appeals it would consider and which it would reject, sending them to the new court.
After the first judges being appointed by the governor, judges would be added to the court through elections starting in 2022. The terms would be staggered for 10 years, and the pay would be $130,000 annually.