Senate Bill No. 464

(By Senators D. Hall and Green)

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[Introduced February 3, 2014; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact §6-2-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to prohibiting officers from taking bonds for persons in custody or from acting as a bail bondsman.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

    That §6-2-21 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 2. OFFICIAL AND OTHER BONDS.

§6-2-21. Bonds taken for persons in custody.

    No officer, by color of his or her office, shall may take any obligation, otherwise than is directed by law, of or for any person in his or her custody. If he the officer does this, the same shall be action is void because of the conflict of interest it presents.

    Law-enforcement officers may not serve as a bail bondsman of a person in custody, nor may any immediate family member of a law- enforcement officer serve as a bail bondsman because of the conflict of interest it presents and any such action, if undertaken, is void.

    NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit law-enforcement officers and immediate family members from taking bonds for persons in custody or from acting as a bail bondsman.

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