Introduced Version
House Bill 2534 History
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H. B. 2534
(By Delegates Morgan, Stephens, Diserio, Jones,
Paxton and Smith, P.)
[Introduced February 19, 2013; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new article, designated §47-26-1, §47-26-2,
§47-26-3, §47-26-4 and §47-26-5, all relating to the
regulation of pawn brokers; defining terms; requiring
transaction records; specifying misdemeanor criminal penalty
for violations; requiring record retention; and authorizing
municipal and county regulation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new article, designated §47-26-1, §47-26-2,
§47-26-3, §47-26-4 and §47-26-5, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 26. PAWNBROKERS.
§47-26-1. Definitions.
_____(a) "Pawnbroker" means any person, partnership, association or
corporation advancing money in a pawn transaction in exchange for
collateral in the property of the pledgor. Pawnbroker does not mean any bank which is regulated by the West Virginia Division of
Banking; the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States; the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the board of Governors of
the Federal Reserve System or any other federal or state authority;
and all affiliates thereof and any bank or savings and loan
association whose deposits or accounts are eligible for insurance
by the Bank Insurance Fund or the Savings Association Insurance
Fund or other fund administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation all affiliates thereof, any state or federally
chartered credit union, and any finance company subject to
licensing and regulation by the West Virginia Division of Banking.
_____(b) "Pawn transaction" means a transaction between a
pawnbroker and a pledgor where the pledgor's property is placed in
the possession of the pawnbroker as security for money or other
valuable consideration provided to the pledgor on the condition
that the pledgor may pay a pawn charge and redeem his or her
property within a predetermined time frame. Pawn transactions do
not include those transactions where securities or printed evidence
of indebtedness are used as security for the transaction.
_____(c) "Pledgor" means a person who delivers the pledge into the
possession of a pawnbroker.
§47-26-2. Pawn Transaction Record.
_____(a)All pawnbrokers shall make and maintain a transaction
report on all sale or pawn transactions, except for refinance pawn transactions or merchandise bought from a manufacturer or
wholesaler with an established place of business. The required
transaction report shall include the following, at a minimum:
_____(1) The date of the transaction;
_____(2) The name of the seller;
_____(3) The name of the purchaser;
_____(4) The name of the clerk who handled the transaction;
_____(5) The corresponding pawn ticket number;
_____(6) The terms of the loan or purchase;
_____(7) A copy of the seller's photo identification and type;
Provided, That the copy of the photo identification needs updated
yearly; and
_____(8) A detailed description of the property.
_____(b)For purposes of meeting the requirements of subsection (a)
of this section, a detailed description of the property must
include the following:
_____(1)In the case of firearms, the description must include, at
a minimum, the brand, model, caliber, type, and serial number;
_____(2) In the case of jewelry, the type of jewelry presented, the
karat weight, whether it is made of white gold, yellow gold or
other precious metals, and other description of the stones, shape,
cut, and oddities, etc. which are sufficient to describe the
article of jewelry;
_____(3) In the case of CDs, title and artist;
_____(4) In the case of DVDs, the title of the film;
_____(5) In the case of other types of articles and property, the
description shall include the type of article, brand, model and
serial number on the article, or any other such identifying
information or description to which is sufficient to specifically
describe the item or property.
_____(c) The seller must be required to sign the pawn transaction
statement; and a signed statement from the seller affirming
ownership must appear on the bill of sale or pawn ticket that is
completed by the seller or pledgor at the time of the transaction.
_____(d) The pawnbroker shall maintain the original of all pawn
transaction statements for a minimum of three years, and shall make
the original copies of the pawn transactions statements available
for inspection by law-enforcement officers and law-enforcement
agencies upon request during the posted hours of operation of the
business.
_____(e) At the conclusion of each month, the pawnbroker shall make
one or both of the following available to the state, county,
municipal or local law-enforcement agency which has primary
jurisdiction over the pawn shop's location:
_____(1) A copy of all pawn transaction statements for that month;
or
_____(2) A summary pawn transaction report which is sufficient to
identify the pawn transactions performed for that month, and the description of the articles received and sold during that month.
_____(f) The information required to be collected pursuant to this
section is confidential, is not public record, and should only be
disclosed as provided in this section or otherwise provided by law:
Provided, That the confidential nature of this information in no
way impedes the pawnbroker's duty to accurately collect and timely
provide the information to law enforcement.
§47-26-3. Penalties; pledgor, pawnbroker.
_____(a) A seller or pledgor who falsely affirms ownership in a
pawn transaction is guilty of obtaining money, property and
services by false pretenses and subject to the penalties of section
twenty-four, article three, chapter sixty-one of this code.
_____(b) A pawnbroker who violates the provisions of this article
is guilty of a misdemeanor and, shall be fined not less than $100
and not more than $200 for each offense.
§47-26-4. Retention of records.
_____A pawnbroker shall maintain in either paper or electronic form
for not less than three years the completed pawn transaction forms
and signed ownership statements of each seller or pledger.
§47-26-5. County and municipal regulation of pawnbrokers.
_____This article may not be construed to prohibit or otherwise
limit any county or municipality of this state from adopting an
ordinance, to the extent that the ordinance does not conflict or create lesser requirements than this article or any other provision
of this code, establishing additional requirements of pawnbrokers
within its jurisdiction. Pawnbrokers located in a county or
municipality in which an ordinance establishes reporting
requirements to local law-enforcement officials are not required to
provide duplicate information to other law-enforcement officials
pursuant to section three of this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to regulate pawn brokers. It
defines terms; requires transaction records and record retention.
and provides misdemeanor criminal penalties for violations. And,
the bill authorizes municipal and county regulation.
This article is new; therefore, it has been completely
underscored.