16.1-69.33 - Committee on District Courts.
§ 16.1-69.33. Committee on District Courts.
There is hereby established a Committee on District Courts to be composed ofthe Majority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Delegates, thechairmen of the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees or theirdesignees who shall be members of the Courts of Justice committees, twomembers of each of the Committees for Courts of Justice of each house, to beappointed by the chairman of their Committee, the Chief Justice of theSupreme Court of Virginia who shall be chair of the Committee, one judge of acircuit court, two general district court judges and two juvenile anddomestic relations district court judges. The judicial members of theCommittee on District Courts shall be made to give representation insofar asfeasible to various geographic areas of the Commonwealth. The judicialmembers of the Committee on District Courts shall be appointed by, and serveat the pleasure of the Chief Justice.
The Committee shall meet at such times and places as it may from time to timedesignate for the purposes of authorizing the appointment of substitutejudges pursuant to § 16.1-69.14, authorizing the establishment of clerks'offices in counties or cities as may be requisite, and establishing when suchoffices shall be open for business, authorizing the appointment of personnelfor the district courts pursuant to Article 4 (§ 16.1-69.37 et seq.) of thischapter and establishing procedures for administrative review of appeals frompersonnel actions for district court personnel and magistrates, fixing salaryclassification schedules of court personnel pursuant to Article 5 (§16.1-69.44 et seq.) of this chapter and establishing vacation and sick leavefor district court judges, district court personnel and magistrates, and forsuch other duties or matters as are now, or may hereafter be conferred uponthe Committee by law. Such salary classification schedules, vacation and sickleave policies shall be uniform throughout the Commonwealth.
The Committee on District Courts shall have sole authority and discretion inadjusting salary classification schedules for district court personnel. TheCommittee shall fix such salaries for the several district court personnel atleast annually at such time as it deems it proper and as soon as practicablethereafter certify to the Comptroller and the Executive Secretary of theSupreme Court a detailed statement of the salaries fixed by them for theseveral district courts and the effective date of any salary adjustments.
The Committee on District Courts shall appoint (i) a Clerk's AdvisoryCommittee composed of two clerks from the general district courts and twoclerks from the juvenile and domestic relations district courts; suchappointments shall be made after giving due consideration to former clerks ofcounty and municipal courts not of record; (ii) a Magistrate's AdvisoryCommittee composed of two magistrates; such advisory committees are to makerecommendations to the Committee regarding administrative functions of thedistrict courts.
For the performance of their duties, the Committee shall be reimbursed out ofthe money appropriated for the adjudication of cases in the district trialcourts for their actual expenses incurred in the performance of their dutiesand in addition, per diem compensation allowed for members of the GeneralAssembly for each day spent in performing such duties; provided, however,that no additional compensation shall be paid to members of the judiciaryserving on the Committee.
In the event of the establishment of personal liability of a district courtjudge or magistrate for the loss of property or money from a district courtor magistrate's office by reason of robbery or burglary, the Committee onDistrict Courts shall have the authority, after appropriate investigation andupon its determination that the individual judge or magistrate was notnegligent in the performance of his duties, to reimburse such judge ormagistrate to the extent of his personal liability on a warrant of theComptroller issued as provided by law. However, such reimbursement shall notexceed $1,000 per claim. This paragraph shall apply to all claims arising onand after July 1, 1976.
(1972, c. 708; 1973, cc. 546, 547; 1974, cc. 333, 484; 1975, c. 334; 1976,cc. 52, 444; 1978, c. 133; 1984, c. 23; 1992, c. 497; 2001, c. 367; 2004, c.330; 2008, c. 115.)