ENROLLED

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE

FOR

H. B. 4148

(By Delegates Brown, DeLong, Mahan, R. Thompson,

Armstead, Calvert and Faircloth)


[Passed March 13, 2004; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend and reenact §51-10-8 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact §62-1C-14 of said code, all relating to bail bondspersons; requiring t he Supreme Court of Appeals to adopt rules specifying the qualifications of persons and corporations applying for authority to engage in the bonding business in West Virginia ; allowing bail bondsperson to deliver offenders to county and regional jails without bailpiece; setting requirements; setting forth requirements related to medical treatment of defendant prior to authorities taking custody pursuant to a bailpiece; providing for certain immunities from liability; and providing penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §51-10-8 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §62-1C-14 of said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 51. COURTS AND THEIR OFFICERS.

ARTICLE 10. PROFESSIONAL BONDSMEN IN CRIMINAL CASES.
§51-10-8. Qualifications of bondsmen; rules to be prescribed by Supreme Court of Appeals; lists of agents to be furnished; renewal of authority to act; false swearing.

(a) The Supreme Court of Appeals shall, under reasonable rules, specify the qualifications of persons and corporations applying for authority to engage in the bonding business in criminal cases in the state of West Virginia, and the terms and conditions upon which the business may be carried on. After the first day of September, two thousand four, no person or corporation may, either as principal, or as agent, clerk, or representative of another, engage in the bonding business in any court regularly exercising criminal jurisdiction until qualified pursuant to the rules. The Supreme Court of Appeals, in making the rules, and in granting authority to persons to engage in the bonding business, shall take into consideration both the financial responsibility and the moral qualities of the person so applying, and no person may be permitted to engage, either as principal or agent, in the business of becoming surety upon bonds for compensation in criminal cases, who has ever been convicted of any offense involving moral turpitude, or who is not known to be a person of good moral character. The court shall require every person qualifying to engage in the bonding business as principal to file with the court a list showing the name, age, and residence of each person employed by the bondsman as agent, clerk, or representative in the bonding business, and require an affidavit from each of the persons stating that the person will abide by the terms and provisions of this article. The court shall require the authority of each of the persons to be renewed from time to time at periods the court may by rule provide. Before the authority may be renewed the court shall require from each of the persons an affidavit that since his or her previous qualifications to engage in the bonding business he or she has abided by the provisions of this article, and any person swearing falsely in any of the affidavits is guilty of false swearing.
(b) Persons authorized to engage in the bonding business in criminal cases in the state of West Virginia on the effective date of the amendments made to this section during the regular session of the Legislature in two thousand four may continue to engage in the business until the first day of September, two thousand four.
CHAPTER 62. CRIMINAL PROCEDURE.

ARTICLE 1C. BAIL.
§62-1C-14. Bailpiece; issuance to surety; taking accused into custody.
(a) 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, magistrate or clerk shall issue to the bail bondsperson a bailpiece. Any officer having authority to execute a warrant of arrest shall assist the bail bondsperson holding such bailpiece to take the accused into custody and produce him before the court or magistrate. The bail bondsperson may take the accused into custody and surrender him or her to the court or magistrate without such bailpiece.
(b) If bailpiece is inaccessible due to unavailability of the court's circuit clerk or magistrate, the bail bondsperson, or his or her designee, can take an offender to a regional or county jail without bailpiece, and the jail must accept the offender; provided:
(1) The bail bondsperson, 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 jails and approved by the court of original jurisdiction;
(2) The bail bondsperson signs an agreement provided by the jail indicating that the offender has been booked in lieu of bailpiece. Such agreement shall contain a clause indicating the incarceration of such offender is lawful and that the jail accepting the offender shall be held harmless from any claims of illegal incarceration or other relative charges; thereby, such bail bondsperson assumes the risk and liability of such incarceration; and
(3) Bailpiece must be applied for by the bail bondsperson or his or her designee from the court's circuit clerk or magistrate and hand-delivered by the bail bondsperson or his or her designee to the jail housing such offender on the next judicial day following the initial intake.
(c) Any bail bondsperson who willfully fails to attempt to obtain the appropriate bailpiece within the allotted time period provided in subsection (b) of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be prohibited from continuing to conduct business in this state and shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars and confined in the regional or county jail not more than one year.
(d) No officer, jailer or other person having authority to accept offenders in a county or regional jail is required to accept such offenders being housed in lieu of bailpiece if such offender appears to be in need of medical attention of a degree necessitating treatment by a physician. If an offender is refused pursuant to the provisions of this section, he or she may not be accepted for detention until the bail bondsperson, or his or her designee, provides the jailer or persons accepting such offender with a written clearance from a licensed physician reflecting that the offender has been examined and, if necessary, treated, and which states that it is the physician's medical opinion that the offender can be safely confined in the county or regional jail.
(e) The regional jail authority, the county sheriff, county commission, or any of their agents or employees, shall be immune from liability for any claims of illegal incarceration or other relative charges for any offender accepted into a facility under this section.