Senate Bill No. 612

(By Senators Helmick, Ross, Mitchell and Unger)

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[Introduced February 21, 2000; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article six, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to false reports concerning bombs or other explosive devices; creating offense of false reports concerning bombs; and penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article six, 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 6. CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
ยง61-6-17. False reports concerning bombs or other explosive devices; penalties.

(a) Any person who shall impart or convey or cause to be imparted or conveyed any false information, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe such information to be false, concerning the presence of any bomb or other explosive device in, at, on, near, under or against any dwelling house, structure, improvement, building, bridge, motor vehicle, vessel, boat, railroad car, airplane or other place, or concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made or to be made to so place or explode any such bomb or other explosive device, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred thousand dollars nor more than one two thousand dollars, or by confinement in the county or regional jail for not less than one year nor more than one year three years, or both.
(b) Any person violating any provision of subsection (a) of this section shall, for the second or any subsequent offense under this section, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one two thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the state penitentiary a state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more than five years, or both, or, in the discretion of the court, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one two thousand dollars and by confinement in the county or regional jail for not more than one year five years.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of this section whose violation of the subsection results in another suffering serious bodily injury shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional facility for not less than one nor more than five years or fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or both. Each such injury covered by a violation of subsection (a) shall constitute a separate offense.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the penalty to a felony for making a bomb threat.

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