Senate Bill No. 570
(By Senator Rowe and Mitchell)
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[Introduced February 12, 2002; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-seven, article three,
chapter twenty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to increasing
the criminal offense for a false fire alarm to a felony.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-seven, article three, chapter twenty-nine
of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3. FIRE PREVENTION AND CONTROL ACT.
§29-3-27. Penalties.
(a) Any person who violates any regulations promulgated by the
state fire commission as provided in section five of this article,
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars or imprisoned in
the county or regional jail not more than ninety days, or both fined and imprisoned.
Each and every day during which any illegal erection,
construction, reconstruction, alteration, maintenance or use
continues after knowledge or official notice that same is illegal
shall be deemed considered a separate offense.
(b) Any person who violates the provisions of section
twenty-one of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor felony
and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined for a first offense
not more than one hundred five thousand dollars or imprisoned in
the county jail for not more than thirty days a state correctional
facility for not less than one nor more than three years, or both
fined and imprisoned. and for a second and each subsequent offense
fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five hundred
dollars or imprisoned in the county jail for not less than ninety
days nor more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned.
(c) Any officer who shall fail to perform any duty required of
him or her by this article or who shall violate any of its
provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more
than fifty dollars for each failure or violation.
(d) Any person who violates any other provision of this
article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction
thereof, shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or
imprisoned in the county or regional jail not more than ninety days, or both fined and imprisoned.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
increase the criminal
offense for a false fire alarm to a felony.
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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