H. B. 3131


(By Delegates Kominar, Varner, Williams,
Swartzmiller and Stemple)
[Introduced February 21, 2003; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]



A BILL to amend and reenact section fourteen, article one-c, chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to allowing bail bondsmen to deliver offenders to county and regional jails without bailpiece, setting requirements, and penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section fourteen, article one-c, chapter sixty-two of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
 ARTICLE 1C. BAIL.
§62-1C-14. Bailpiece; issuance to surety; taking accused into custody.

A bailpiece is a certificate stating that the bail became such for the accused in a particular case and the amount thereof. Upon demand therefor, the court, justice magistrate or clerk shall issue to the surety bail bondsman a bailpiece. Any officer having authority to execute a warrant of arrest shall assist the surety bail bondsman holding such the bailpiece to take the accused into custody and produce him the accused before the court or justice magistrate. The surety may take the accused into custody and surrender him or her to the court or justice without such the bailpiece.
If bailpiece is inaccessible due to unavailability of the court's circuit clerk or magistrate, the bail bondsman or his or her designee may take an offender to a regional or county jail without bailpiece, and the jail must accept the offender; provided:
(a) The bail bondsman or his or her designee delivering an offender to a jail without a bailpiece issued by the court's circuit clerk or magistrate appears on the registered list maintained at the jail and approved by the court of original jurisdiction; and
(b) The bail bondsman signs an agreement provided by the jail indicating that the offender has been booked in lieu of bailpiece. The agreement must contain a clause indicating that the incarceration of the offender is lawful and that the jail accepting the offender is held harmless from any claims of unlawful incarceration or other related charged; thereby the bail bondsman assumes that risk and liability of the incarceration; and
(c) Bailpiece must be obtained by the bail bondsman or his or her designee from the court's circuit clerk or magistrate and hand-delivered by the bail bondsman or his or her designee to the jail housing the offender within seventy-two hours of the initial intake.
Any bail bondsman who fails to obtain the appropriate bailpiece within the allotted seventy-two hours provided in subsection (c) of this section, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, is prohibited from continuing to conduct business as a bail bondsman in this state and shall be imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than one year, nor more than three years.



NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow a bail bondsman to deliver an offender to a jail without a bailpiece if certain requirements are met.

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