Senate Bill No. 413
(By Senator Bowman)
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[Introduced January 30, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §30-40-20 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the Real Estate Licensing Act
generally; and eliminating the requirement that complaints be
verified.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §30-40-20 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 40. WEST VIRGINIA REAL ESTATE LICENSE ACT.
§30-40-20. Complaints; investigation.
(a) The commission may upon its own motion and shall upon the
verified complaint in writing of any person filing of a complaint
setting forth a cause of action under this article or the rules
promulgated thereunder, ascertain the facts and if warranted hold
a hearing for the suspension or revocation of a license, or the
imposition of sanctions against a licensee.
(b) The commission shall consider complaints which are
submitted in writing and set forth the details of the transaction.
© Upon initiation or receipt of the complaint, the commission
shall provide a copy of the complaint to the licensee for his or
her response to the allegations contained in the complaint. The
accused party shall file an answer within twenty days of the date
of service. Failure of the licensee to file a timely response may
be considered an admission of the allegations in the compliant:
Provided, That nothing contained herein shall prohibit the accused
party from obtaining an extension of time to file a response, if
the commission, its executive director or other authorized
representative permits the extension.
(d) The commission may cause an investigation to be made into
the facts and circumstances giving rise to the complaint and any
person licensed by the commission has an affirmative duty to assist
the commission, or its authorized representative, in the conduct of
its investigation.
(e) After receiving the licensee's response and reviewing any
information obtained through investigation, the commission shall
determine if probable cause exists that the licensee has violated
any provision of this article or the rules.
(f) If a determination that probable cause exists for
disciplinary action, the commission may hold a hearing in
compliance with section twenty-one of this article or may dispose of the matter informally through a consent agreement or otherwise.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to remove the requirement
that complaints against licensees under the Real Estate Licensing
Act be verified.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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