Senate Bill No. 629
(By Senator Chafin)
____________
[Introduced February 22, 1999;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section ten, article ten, chapter
fifty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to providing that
bondsmen and bonding agents are governed by existing code to
the exclusion of any West Virginia trial court rule unless
the bondsman or bonding agent is an officer of the court or
of the judiciary.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section ten, article ten, chapter fifty-one of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 10. PROFESSIONAL BONDSMEN IN CRIMINAL CASES.
§51-10-10. Enforcement of article.
(a) It shall be the duty of the judges of the criminal courts of record, the municipal courts, the justices of the peace
magistrates of the county to which this article is applicable, to
see that this article is enforced, and upon the impaneling of
each grand jury in the state of West Virginia it shall be the
duty of the judge impaneling said jury to give it in charge to
the jury to investigate the manner in which this article is
enforced and all violations thereof.
(b) Inasmuch as a bondsman or bonding agent is not an
officer of the court or of the judiciary, this article shall
govern the terms and conditions of said bondsman or bonding agent
to the exclusion of any West Virginia trial court rule approved
by the supreme court of appeals of West Virginia.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that bondsmen
and bonding agents are governed by existing code to the exclusion
of any West Virginia trial court rule unless the bondsman or
bonding agent is an officer of the court or of the judiciary.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.