ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 730

(By Senators Wooton, Burnette, Deem, Facemyer, Kessler,

Ross, Rowe and Snyder)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported April 4, 2001.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section six hundred one, article twenty-seven, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to requiring law-enforcement agencies to open an official investigation when a person is reported missing who had earlier been awarded a protective order or was otherwise protected by the protective provisions of a domestic violence protective order or where an affidavit is filed alleging domestic violence; requiring law-enforcement agencies to open an official investigation when a person submits an affidavit that a missing person had previously been threatened or abused by another person; and providing for a criminal penalty for submitting a false affidavit.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section six hundred one, article twenty-seven, chapter forty-eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
 ARTICLE 2A. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

Part 6. Disposition of Domestic Violence Orders.

§48-27-601. Filing of orders with law-enforcement agency;


affidavit as to award of possession of real property; service of order on respondent.

(a) Upon entry of an order pursuant to section 27-403 or part 27-501, et seq., or an order entered pursuant to part 5-501, et seq., granting relief provided for by this article, a copy of the order shall, no later than the close of the next business day, be transmitted by the court or the clerk of the court to a local office of the municipal police, the county sheriff and the West Virginia state police, where it shall be placed in a confidential file, with access provided only to the law-enforcement agency and the respondent named on the order.
(b) A sworn affidavit may be executed by a party who has been awarded exclusive possession of the residence or household, pursuant to an order entered pursuant to section 27-503 and shall be delivered to such law-enforcement agencies simultaneously with any order giving his or her the party's consent for a law-enforcement officer to enter the residence or household, without a warrant, to enforce the protective order or temporary order.
(c) Orders shall be promptly served upon the respondent. Failure to serve a protective order on the respondent does not stay the effect of a valid order if the respondent has actual notice of the existence and contents of the order.
(d) Any law-enforcement agency in this state in possession of or with notice of the existence of an order issued pursuant to the provisions of sections 27-403 or 27-501 of this article or the provisions of section 5-509 of this chapter which is in effect or has been expired for thirty day or less that receives a report that a person protected by such an order has been reported to be missing shall immediately follow its procedures for investigating missing persons. No agency or department policy delaying the beginning of an investigation shall have any force or effect.
(e) The provisions of subsection (d) of this section shall be applied where a report of a missing person is made which is accompanied by a sworn affidavit that the person alleged to be missing was, at the time of his or her alleged disappearance, being subjected to treatment which meets the definition of domestic battery or assault set forth in section twenty-eight, article two, chapter sixty-one of this code.