H. B. 2475
(By Delegates C. White, Hubbard, Dempsey
and Davis)
[Introduced January 29, 1999; referred to the
Committee on Education then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section fifteen, article two, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to assault or
battery of a school employee; and amending the definition of
school employee to include off duty school employees who are
victims of an assault or battery which is reasonably related
to that school employee's employment.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fifteen, article two, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-15. Assault, battery on school employees; penalties.
(a) If any person commits an assault by unlawfully
attempting to commit a violent injury to the person of a school
employee or by unlawfully committing an act which places a school employee in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving a
violent injury, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction, shall be confined in jail not less than five
days nor more than six months and fined not less than fifty
dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.
(b) If any person commits a battery by unlawfully and
intentionally making physical contact of an insulting or
provoking nature with the person of a school employee or by
unlawfully and intentionally causing physical harm to a school
employee, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction, shall be confined in jail not less than ten days nor
more than twelve months and fined not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than five hundred dollars.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "school employee"
means a person employed by a county board of education whether
employed on a regular full-time basis, an hourly basis or
otherwise if, at the time of the commission of any offense
provided for in this section, such the person is engaged in the
performance of his or her duties, or is commuting to or from his
or her place of employment, or is an off duty school employee and
the assault or battery is reasonably related to that school
employee's employment. For the purposes of this section, a
"school employee" shall be deemed to include includes a student
teacher.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is provide that an off duty
school employee is covered under "the assault or battery of a
school employee statute" when a school employee is the victim of
an assault or battery which is reasonably related to his or her
school employment.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.