| While West Virginia's skyrocketing costs for housing prisoners is described as the state's growth industry, despite low crime rates and a stagnant and decreasing population, Gov. Joe Manchin says there is another problem.
A rapid growth in spending by West Virginia's court system of 57% in the past five years had Gov. Joe Manchin broach the issue in his State-of-the-State address.
Manchin told lawmakers last week that he will sign an executive order to look at the costs, appointing a special panel to find ways to modernize the courts.
The 57 percent jump in the last five years was nearly twice the rate of the executive branch and more than four times that of the legislature.
A court system's administrator says the judiciary accounts for a small fraction of state spending, and that at least some of the growth reflects new programs or services mandated by the legislature.
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