H. B. 2187
(By Delegates Stewart and Prezioso)
[Introduced February 18, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Political Subdivisions.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article two, chapter six
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, relating to bonds for county
officers; and including sheriff's correctional officers.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article two, chapter six of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. OFFICIAL AND OTHER BONDS.
§6-2-10. Bonds of county officers.
Every commissioner of a county commission and every clerk of
a circuit court shall give bond with good security, to be
approved by the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation;
and every sheriff, deputy sheriff, surveyor of lands, clerk of a
county commission, assessor, county superintendent of schools,
notary public and magistrate shall give bond with good security,
to be approved, unless otherwise provided by law, by the countycommission of the county in which such officer is to act. The
penalty of the bond of each commissioner of a county commission
shall be not less than twenty thousand dollars and not more than
two hundred thousand dollars, the amount to be fixed by the
circuit court of the county, or the judge thereof in vacation, by
order entered of record on the proper order books of both the
county and circuit courts; of the clerk of the circuit court, not
less than ten thousand nor more than fifty thousand dollars; of
the sheriff, not less than one hundred thousand dollars nor more
than the aggregate amount of all state, county, district, school,
municipal and other moneys which will probably come into his
hands during any one year of his term of office; of the deputy
sheriff, not less than thirty-five thousand nor more than one
hundred thousand dollars; of the surveyor of lands, not less than
one thousand nor more than three thousand dollars; of the clerk
of the county commission, not less than ten thousand nor more
than fifty thousand dollars; of the assessor, not less than two
thousand nor more than five thousand dollars; of the county
superintendent of schools, not less than ten thousand nor more
than fifty thousand dollars; of a notary public, not less than
two hundred fifty nor more than one thousand dollars. Any public
body required to pay the premiums on official bonds may provide
a blanket bond policy for two or more such official bonds:
Provided,
That the bond herein required to be given by a notary
public may be given before the clerk of the county commission, in
the vacation of said commission, and approved by it at its nextregular session.
For the purposes of this section, "deputy sheriff" shall
mean a person appointed by a sheriff as his deputy whose primary
duty as such deputy is within the scope of active, general law
enforcement and as such is authorized to carry deadly weapons,
patrol the highways, perform police functions, make arrests or
safeguard prisoners. The term "deputy sheriff" shall also
include correctional officers employed by the sheriff whose
principal duties are active operation and management of the
county jail.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require that county
correctional officers be bonded in a like manner as law-
enforcement deputy sheriffs.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.