H. B. 2469
(By Delegates Tansill and Palumbo)
[Introduced January 9, 2008; 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 increasing criminal penalties
for the crime of falsely reporting bomb or explosive threats;
and providing that juveniles accused of making a false bomb
threat report shall be treated as an adult.
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 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 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
one hundred one thousand
dollars nor more than
two five thousand dollars or confined in a
state correctional facility for not less than one year nor more
than three years, or both.
(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 ten thousand dollars, or both. 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) Any minor alleged to have committed an act prohibited
under the provisions of this section shall upon trial in the matter
be tried as an adult.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the criminal
fines for conviction of the crime of making a false bomb threat and
to provide that a minor accused of making a false bomb threat shall
be tried as an adult.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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