H. B. 2440
(By Delegate Hamilton)
[Introduced January 13, 2010; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §61-6-17 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the insertion of language which
defines acts of violence and makes its false reporting a
felony.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-6-17 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
§61-6-17. False reports concerning
acts of violence, bombs or
other explosive devices; penalties.
(a) Any person who imparts or conveys or causes to be imparted
or conveyed any false information, knowing or having reasonable
cause to believe the information to be false, concerning
acts of
violence the presence of any bomb or other explosive device in, at,
on, near, under or against any dwelling house, structure, improvement, building, bridge, motor vehicle, vessel, boat,
railroad car, airplane or other place or concerning an attempt or
alleged attempt being made or to be made to so place or explode any
bomb or other explosive device is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than
$2,000 or confined in a state correctional facility for not less
than one year nor more than three years, or both
fined and
confined.
(b) If any person violates any provision of this section and
the violation directly causes economic harm as defined in
subsection (d) of this section, in addition to any other penalty,
the circuit court may order the offender to pay the victim or
victims restitution, in accordance with the provisions of article
eleven-a of this chapter, for economic loss caused by the violation
in an amount not to exceed the economic harm suffered. Nothing in
this section may be construed to limit the circuit court's
authority to order restitution pursuant to other provisions of this
code.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the
contrary, any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section whose violation of the subsection results in another
suffering serious bodily injury is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in a state correctional
facility for not less than one year nor more than five years or fined not more than $10,000, or both
fined and confined. Each
injury resulting from a violation of subsection (a) of this section
constitutes a separate offense.
(d) As used in this section, "economic harm" means all direct,
incidental and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as
a result of criminal conduct. Economic harm includes, but is not
limited to, the following:
(1) All wages, salaries or other compensation lost as a result
of the criminal conduct;
(2) The cost of all wages, salaries or other compensation paid
to employees for time those employees are prevented from working as
a result of the criminal conduct;
(3) The cost of all wages, salaries or other compensation paid
to employees for time those employees spent in reacting to the
results of the criminal conduct; or
(4) The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business
is shut down as a result of the criminal conduct.
(e) As used in this section, "acts of violence" includes, but
is not limited to, the following:
(1) The presence of unauthorized armed individual on school
property;
(2) Individuals committing life threatening action which
causes or is likely to cause serious bodily injury upon any other
individual while on school property; or
(3) The kidnaping or holding hostage of any student, faculty
or staff or any other individual on school property.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is the insertion of language
which defines acts of violence and makes its false reporting a
felony.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.