Thursday, August 21, 2008
The General Assembly is not in session.
Tracking Virginia’s General Assembly
since 2007.
HB379: Courthouses; increase in assessments for construction, renovation, or maintenance.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. That § 17.1-281 of the Code of Virginia is amended and reenacted as follows:
§ 17.1-281. Assessment for courthouse construction, renovation or maintenance.
Any county or city, through its governing body, may assess a
sum not in excess of two dollars $12 as part of the costs in (i) each civil action filed in the
district or circuit courts located within its boundaries and (ii) each criminal
or traffic case in its district or circuit court in which the defendant is
charged with a violation of any statute or ordinance. The total assessments
authorized by any county or city in a civil action pursuant to this section and
§ 42.1-70 shall not exceed four dollars. If a town provides court
facilities for a county, the governing body of the county shall return to the
town a portion of the assessments collected based on the number of civil,
criminal and traffic cases originating and heard in the town.
The imposition of such assessment shall be by ordinance of the governing body which may provide for different sums in circuit courts and district courts. The assessment shall be collected by the clerk of the court in which the action is filed, remitted to the treasurer of the appropriate county or city and held by such treasurer subject to disbursements by the governing body for the construction, renovation, or maintenance of courthouse or jail and court-related facilities and to defray increases in the cost of heating, cooling, electricity, and ordinary maintenance.
The assessment provided for herein shall be in addition to any other fees prescribed by law. The assessment shall be required in each felony, misdemeanor, or traffic infraction case, regardless of the existence of a local ordinance requiring its payment.
Additional Data
Explanation
This is the actual text of the bill — the legislation itself. Generally this is amending existing law, proposing the addition or removal of words from laws that are already on the books.
Words that are highlighted in yellow are
proposed additions, and words that are crossed out in
red are proposed removals.
The numbers with the § symbol before them are references to existing laws, and if you click on them they’ll take you to that part of the law on the state's website.