H. B. 2896
(By Delegates Barker and Hrutkay)
[Introduced
February 7, 2007
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §48-27-502 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to providing the Court,
within its discretion, may include mutually restrictive
protective orders in domestic violence cases.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-27-502 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 27. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
§48-27-502. Mandatory provisions in protective order.
(a) A protective order must order the respondent to refrain
from abusing, harassing, stalking, threatening or otherwise
intimidating the petitioner or the minor children, or engaging in
other conduct that would place the petitioner or the minor children
in reasonable fear of bodily injury.
(b) The protective order must inform the respondent that he or she is prohibited from possessing any firearm or ammunition,
notwithstanding the fact that the respondent may have a valid
license to possess a firearm, and that possession of a firearm or
ammunition while subject to the court's protective order is a
criminal offense under federal law.
(c) The protective order must inform the respondent that the
order is in full force and effect in every county of this state.
(d) The protective order must contain on its face the
following statement, printed in bold-faced type or in capital
letters:
"VIOLATION OF THIS ORDER MAY BE PUNISHED BY CONFINEMENT IN A
REGIONAL OR COUNTY JAIL FOR AS LONG AS ONE YEAR AND BY A FINE OF AS
MUCH AS TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS."
(e) In the event a protective order requires a respondent
party to refrain from contacting the petitioner or to refrain from
being within a certain proximity of the petitioner, the order may,
at the discretion of the court, include the same requirement that
the petitioner not contact or be within a certain proximity of the
respondent: Provided, That an exception to this requirement may be
made when the parties are the parents or stepparents of minor
children and circumstances exist due to the existence of the
children which would make it undesirable or unfeasible to impose
mutually restrictive conditions.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to authorize the Court to enter mutually restrictive conditions in protective orders issued
in domestic violence cases that require both parties to refrain
from contacting or being within a certain proximity of the other.
Current law does not require petitioning parties to observe the
same restrictive conditions imposed on respondents.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.