Senate Bill No. 533
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[Originating in the Committee on Education;
reported February 12, 1999.]
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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 adding assault or battery of an off
duty school employee when the motive for the assault or
battery is retaliation for an action taken by the employee to
supervise or discipline one or more pupils.
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 (1) by unlawfully
attempting to commit a violent injury to the person of a school
employee while he or she is engaged in the performance of his or her duties, is commuting to or from his or her place of employment
or if the motive for the assault is retaliation for some action
taken by the employee to supervise or discipline one or more pupils
pursuant to sections one or one-a, article five, chapter eighteen-a
of this code or (2) by unlawfully committing an act which places a
school employee in reasonable apprehension of immediately receiving
a violent injury while the employee is engaged in the performance
of his or her duties, is commuting to or from his or her place of
employment or if the motive for the assault is retaliation for some
action taken by the employee to supervise or discipline one or more
pupils pursuant to sections one or one-a, article five, chapter
eighteen-a of this code, he or she shall be is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the
county or regional 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 (1) by unlawfully and
intentionally making physical contact of an insulting or provoking
nature with the person of a school employee while he or she is
engaged in the performance of his or her duties, is commuting to or
from his or her place of employment or if the motive for the
battery is retaliation for some action taken by the employee to
supervise or discipline one or more pupils pursuant to sections one
or one-a, article five, chapter eighteen-a of this code or (2) by
unlawfully and intentionally causing physical harm to a school employee while he or she is engaged in the performance of his or
her duties, is commuting to or from his or her place of employment
or if the motive for the battery is retaliation for some action
taken by the employee to supervise or discipline one or more pupils
pursuant to sections one or one-a, article five, chapter eighteen-a
of this code, he or she shall be is guilty of a misdemeanor and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county or
regional 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 person is engaged in the performance of his duties,
or is commuting to or from his place of employment. For the
purposes of this section, a "school employee" shall be deemed to
include includes a student teacher.
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(NOTE: Strike-throughs indicate language that would be
stricken from the code, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.)