Senate Bill No. 681
(By Senators Burnette, Deem, Boley, Oliverio,
Anderson, McKenzie, Sprouse and Ross)
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[Introduced February 18, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article twelve, chapter six of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section four,
relating to personal immunity for government employees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article twelve, chapter six of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated section four, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 12. GENERAL LIABILITY, BODILY INJURY AND PROPERTY DAMAGE
INSURANCE BY STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS.
§6-12-4. Personal immunity for government employees.
Notwithstanding any provision in this code to the contrary, no
employee of a state, county or municipal government, or a board,
commission, agency or other subdivision of a state, county or
municipal government, including any teacher or employee of a county board of education, may be sued in his or her personal capacity for
an act of negligence committed by that employee while acting in his
or her official capacity. Nothing in this section precludes a
lawsuit against a public employee's employer for a negligent act of
that employee if the lawsuit is otherwise authorized by West
Virginia law.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is personal immunity for
government employees acting in their official capacity.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.