H. B. 4497
(By Delegates Iaquinta, Crosier, Klempa,
Skaff, Lawrence, Fragale, Marshall, Rowan,
Longstreth,Border and Talbott)
[Introduced
February 15, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §48-27-505 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to increasing the time
period of a protective order in domestic violence cases to one
year.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-27-505 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 27. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
§48-27-505. Time period a protective order is in effect;
extension of order; notice of order or extension.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (d), section
four hundred one of this article, a protective order, entered by
the family court pursuant to this article, is effective for either
ninety days or one hundred eighty days
or one year, in the
discretion of the court. If the court enters an order for a period
of
ninety days one hundred eighty days, upon receipt of a written
request from the petitioner prior to the expiration of the
ninety-day one hundred eighty day period, the family court shall extend
its order for an additional ninety-day period.
(b) To be effective, a written request to extend an order from
ninety days to one hundred eighty days
to one year must be
submitted to the court prior to the expiration of the original
ninety-day one hundred eighty day period. A notice of the
extension shall be sent by the clerk of the court to the respondent
by first-class mail, addressed to the last known address of the
respondent as indicated by the court file. The extension of time
is effective upon mailing of the notice.
(c) Certified copies of any order entered or extension notice
made under the provisions of this section shall be served upon the
respondent by first class mail, addressed to the last known address
of the respondent as indicated by the court file, and delivered to
the petitioner and any law-enforcement agency having jurisdiction
to enforce the order, including the city police, the county
sheriff's office or local office of the West Virginia State Police
within twenty-four hours of the entry of the order. The protective
order shall be in full force and effect in every county of this
state.
(d) The family court may modify the terms of a protective
order upon motion of either party.
(e) The clerk of the circuit court shall cause a copy of any
protective order entered by the family court pursuant to the
provisions of this article or pursuant to the provisions of chapter forty-eight of this code to be forwarded to the magistrate or
magistrate court clerk and the magistrate or magistrate court clerk
shall forward a copy of the protective order to the appropriate
state and federal agencies for registration of domestic violence
offenders as required by state and federal law.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to extend the maximum length
of protective orders in domestic violence cases from one hundred
eighty days to one year.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.