COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

Senate Bill No. 93

(By Senators Minard and Rowe)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;

reported January 17, 2003.]

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A BILL to amend article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section fifteen-b, relating to violence against public employees.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section fifteen-b, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.

§61-2-15b. Assault, battery on public employees; penalties.

(a) Any person who commits an assault, as defined in subsection (b), section nine of this article, against a public employee in an employment position not protected by the provisions of section ten-b, fifteen or fifteen-a of this article while the employee is acting within the scope of his or her public employment is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than one hundred dollars and imprisoned in the county or regional jail not less than twenty- four hours nor more than six months.
(b) Any person who commits a battery, as defined in subsection (c), section nine of this article, against a public employee in an employment position not protected by the provisions of section ten- b, fifteen or fifteen-a of this article while the employee is acting within the scope of his or her public employment is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars and imprisoned in the county or regional jail not less than twenty- four hours nor more than twelve months.
(c) For purposes of this section, "public employee" means any person employed by the state of West Virginia or any political subdivision thereof.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a law that addresses violence against public employees.

This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.)