Senate Bill No. 289
(By Senators Hunter, Dempsey, White and Unger)
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[Introduced January 26, 2006; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-11A-8 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto
four new sections, designated §61-11A-9, §61-11A-10, §61-11A-
11 and §61-11A-12, all relating to establishing a Statewide
Automated Victim Information and Notification System.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-11A-8 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto four new sections, designated §61-11A-9, 61-11A-10,
§61-11A-11 and §61-11A-12, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 11A. VICTIM PROTECTION ACT OF 1984.
§61-11A-8. Statewide automated victim notification system.
The Division of Corrections shall establish a statewide victim
information and notification (SAVIN) system that will do the
following:
(1) Automatically notify a registered victim by their choice
of telephone, letter or e-mail when any of the following events affect an offender housed in the Division of Corrections or any
county jail in the state:
(A) Is transferred or assigned to another facility;
(B) Is transferred to the custody of another agency outside
the state;
(C) Is given a different security classification;
(D) Is released on temporary leave or otherwise;
(E) Is discharged;
(F) Has escaped; or
(G) Has been served with a protective order that was requested
by the victim.
(2) Automatically notify a registered victim by their choice
of telephone, letter or e-mail when an offender has:
(A) An upcoming court event where the victim is entitled to be
present;
(B) An upcoming parole or pardon hearing;
(C) A change in their parole or probation status including:
(i) A change in their supervision status;
(ii) A change in their address;
(3) Automatically notify a registered victim by their choice
of telephone, letter or e-mail when a sex offender has:
(A) Updated their profile information (address, status,
etc...) with the state sex offender registry;
(B) Become noncompliant with the state sex offender registry;
(4) Permit a crime victim to receive the most recent status
report for an offender in the Division of Corrections, county jail, or sex offender registry by calling the SAVIN system on a toll free
number as well as by accessing the SAVIN system via a public web
site.
(5) All victims calling the SAVIN program will be given the
option to have live operator assistance to use the program on a
twenty-four hour, three hundred sixty-five day per year basis.
(6) Permit a crime victim to register or update the victim's
registration information for the SAVIN system by calling toll free
telephone number or accessing a public web site.
§61-11A-9. Satisfaction of notification obligations.
Participation in the SAVIN program and making offender and
case data available on a timely basis to the SAVIN program will
satisfy the Division of Correction's, sheriff's and prosecuting
attorney's obligations to notify the crime victim of an offender's
custody status and the status of the offender's upcoming court
events.
§61-11A-10. SAVIN system updating.
The Division of Corrections must ensure that the offender
information contained within the automated victim notification
system is updated frequently enough to timely notify a crime victim
that an offender has been released, has been discharged, or has
escaped. However, the failure of the automated victim notification
system to provide notice to the victim does not establish a
separate cause of action by the victim against the state, local
officials or against the Division of Corrections.
§61-11A-11. Law-enforcement cooperation.
Law-enforcement officers shall cooperate with the division in
establishing and maintaining the automated victim notification
system.
§61-11A-12. Division of Corrections SAVIN administration.
The Division of Corrections shall administer the automated
victim notification system. The costs of administering the system
must be paid with appropriations made to the department and from
federal grants and contracts.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to address the concerns of
crime victims throughout West Virginia by implementing a statewide
automated victim notification system allowing crime victims to be
informed of the status and whereabouts of criminals.
§61-11A-8 is entirely rewritten, and §61-11A-9, 61-11A-10,
§61-11A-11 and §61-11A-12 are new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.