Another legislative session enters the history books! Over 1800 bills were introduced in the regular session, but only 215 bills actually made it through both houses and have been sent to the Governor for signature.  Following the close of the regular session on April 13th at midnight, the Governor called a special session that ended on April 19th and produced 5 more bills for the Governor to sign. 

 A couple of bills passed that we believe will provide some positive relief to county regional jail costs, CCAWV's number one priority for 2013. 

 SB 146 will allow personal income tax refunds to be held for the non-payment of court costs and SB 371 the Governor's prison overcrowding bill.  SB 371 will do several things including establishing drug courts in all 55 counties.

The expense of the drug courts will be under the WV Supreme Court and the cost of participating in the drug court versus the regional jail will be much less for counties. 

A last minute change will allow sentencing judges to decide if non-violent offenders should get out of jail six months early (rather than an automatic six-month early release).

Because of this change, the projected savings for next year could be reduced from $27 million to $18 million, but still some positive change. As bills are signed by the Governor and final copies are available, I will summarize all those that are important to county government...keep watching for them.