Senate Bill No. 375
(By Senators Sharpe, White, Ross, Schoonover and Scott)
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[Introduced February 13, 1996;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article six-a, chapter
forty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to reports of
children suspected to be abused or neglected; failure to
report; intentional false report; concealing of relevant
exculpatory information; and civil and criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article six-a, chapter forty-nine of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6A. REPORTS OF CHILDREN SUSPECTED TO BE ABUSED OR
NEGLECTED.
§49-6A-8. Failure to report;
penalty malicious and bad faith
allegations and allegations known to be false or made in reckless disregard of relevant facts; penalties.
(a) Any person, official or institution required by this
article to report a case involving a child known or suspected to
be abused or neglected, or required by section five of this
article to forward a copy of a report of serious injury, who
knowingly fails to do so or knowingly prevents another person
acting reasonably from doing so, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in
the county jail not more than ten days or fined not more than one
hundred dollars, or both.
(b) Any person, official or institution knowingly and
intentionally making a false report that a child is neglected or
abused or has suffered serious physical abuse, sexual abuse or
sexual assault is exempt from the immunity from civil liability
granted by section six of this article. A cause of action for
damages proximately caused by such a bad faith report of abuse or
neglect may be maintained by a child or by his or her parent,
guardian or custodian for recovery of actual damages incurred,
including but not limited to, costs of litigation.
(c) Any person or official knowingly and intentionally
making a false assertion or statement of fact alleging that an
individual has committed child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, or child sexual assault shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county
jail for a period not to exceed one year or fined not more than
one thousand dollars, or both. A cause of action for treble
damages proximately caused by such a knowingly and intentionally
false allegation may be maintained by a child or by his or her
parent, guardian or custodian for recovery of actual damages
incurred, including but not limited to costs of litigation.
(d) Any person or official, while making a report of child
abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse or child sexual assault
to a medical provider, state department worker, prosecuting
attorney or circuit court, who intentionally conceals or
intentionally fails to disclose relevant exculpatory information
known to the reporter at the time of the making of the report
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in the county jail for a period not to exceed
one year or fined not more than one thousand dollars, or both. A
cause of action for treble damages proximately caused by such
knowing and intentional concealment or failure to disclose
exculpatory information may be maintained by a child or by his or
her parent, guardian or custodian for recovery of actual damages
incurred, including but not limited to, costs of litigation.
(e) Any individual with knowledge of facts tending to
prove a criminal violation of this section shall, upon
application to the circuit court of the county in which the
violation occurred, be afforded the opportunity to appear before
the grand jury to provide information relevant to the violation.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the
misdemeanor offense of intentionally making false child abuse
allegations and to gives the victim of false allegations a cause
of action for actual damages.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.