Senate Bill No. 165
(By Senator Hunter)
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[Introduced February 11, 2005; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §61-5-29 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to child support generally; and
reducing the monetary threshold for support arrearage
misdemeanor and felony offenses.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §61-5-29 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC JUSTICE.
§61-5-29. Failure to meet an obligation to provide support to a
minor; penalties.
(1) A person who: (a)
Persistently Fails to provide support
which he or she can reasonably provide and which he or she knows he
or she has a duty to provide to a minor; or (b) is subject to court
order to pay any amount for the support of a minor child and is
delinquent in meeting the full obligation established by the order
and
has been is delinquent for a period of at least
six three
months' duration, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than one hundred dollars nor more
than one thousand dollars, or confined in
the county or regional
jail for not more than one year, or both fined and confined.
(2) A person who persistently fails to provide support which
he or she can reasonably provide and which he or she knows he or
she has a duty to provide to a minor by virtue of a court or
administrative order and the failure results in
(a) an arrearage
of
not less than eight thousand dollars; or (b) twelve of six
consecutive months without payment of support, is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than
one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or
imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than three years, or
both fined and imprisoned.
(3) In a prosecution under this section, the defendant's
alleged inability to reasonably provide the required support may be
raised only as an affirmative defense, after reasonable notice to
the state.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reduce the monetary
threshold for child support arrearage misdemeanor and felony
offenses.
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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