Senate Bill No. 197
(By Senator Minard)
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[Introduced January 17, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-15b, relating to
violence against public employees.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-15b, 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 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 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 of the state.
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.