H. B. 2700


(By Delegate Kiss)
[Introduced March 24, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]




A BILL to amend and reenact sections six, eight, ten and eleven, article two, chapter six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to official bonds; increasing certain state, county and municipal performance bonds; and requiring the state, each county and each municipality to provide blanket faithful performance bonds for certain officers, employees and members and employees of boards and commissions.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections six, eight, ten and eleven, 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.

§6-2-6. Bonds of certain state officers.

The following officers shall give bonds to be approved by the governor, in the penalties hereinafter named: Secretary ofstate, twenty-five five hundred thousand dollars; auditor, fifty thousand one million dollars; treasurer, five hundred thousand million dollars; state superintendent of free schools, three one hundred thousand dollars; and commissioner of agriculture, five two hundred thousand dollars.
Prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, the secretary of administration may contract to provide a blanket faithful performance bond which meets standard auditing requirements for those state officers, employees, administrators, members and staff of state boards and commissions.
§6-2-8. Bond of clerk of supreme court of appeals.

The clerk of the supreme court of appeals shall give bond, to be approved by said the court. in a penalty of not less than three thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars, as the court shall prescribe The clerk may be included under the blanket faithful performance bond provided for in section six of this article.
§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 one hundred thousand dollars and not more than two five 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 fifty thousand nor more than fifty one hundred thousand dollars; of the sheriff, not less than one hundred seven hundred fifty thousand dollars nor more than the aggregate amount of all state, county, district, school and municipal and other moneys which will probably come into his hands property and money received, managed or transferred by the sheriff during any one year of his or her term of office: Provided, That the maximum amount of the bond of the sheriff may be calculated from tables and formulas established by the surety association of America; 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 fifty thousand nor more than fifty one hundred 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 fifty thousand nor more than fifty one hundred thousand dollars; of a notary public, not less than two hundred fifty nor more than one thousanddollars. Any public body required to pay the premiums on official bonds may shall provide a blanket employee performance 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 next regular session.
Prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, every county commission may contract to provide a bond, in the form of a blanket public employee faithful performance bond, which meets generally accepted auditing standards for all elected county officers, their employees and members and employees of county boards and commissions.
For the purposes of this section, "deputy sheriff" shall mean means 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.
§6-2-11. Bonds of municipal officers.

(a) Every officer or employee of a municipality who handles public funds or property, and every other officer or employee of a municipality of whom it shall be required, shall, unless otherwise provided by law, give bond, with good security, to be approved by the council or other similar body of such the municipality, and in such a penalty as such the council or othersimilar body shall prescribe, conditioned upon the faithful discharge of the duties of his office or employment and the faithful accounting for and paying over, as required by law, of any funds or property coming into his possession.
(b) Prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four, every municipality may contract to provide a bond, in the form of a blanket public employee faithful performance bond, which meets generally accepted auditing standards for elected municipal officers, their employees and members and employees of municipal boards and commissions.
(c) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section are not in effect after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-four.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase minimum bond requirements for state, county and municipal officers and employees and to require that by July 1, 1994, the state, each county and each municipality provide blanket faithful performance bonds for officers, employees and members and employees of state, county and municipal boards and commissions.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.