ENROLLED

Senate Bill No. 238

(By Senators Wooton, Dittmar, Buckalew, Yoder,

Ross, Oliverio, White and Wagner )

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[Passed March 9, 1995; in effect ninety days from passage.]

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AN ACT to amend article five, chapter four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section six, relating to creating the misdemeanor offense of knowingly and willfully providing materially false information to the commission on special investigations or its personnel authorized to conduct investigations.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article five, chapter four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section six, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. COMMISSION ON SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS.
§4-5-6. False statements to commission.
(a) A person is guilty of making a false statement to the commission on special investigations when:
(1) Such person, with the intent to impede the commission or to impede an investigator of the commission acting in the lawful exercise of his or her official duties, knowingly and willfully makes any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representation, or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or entry;
(2) Such statement, representation, writing or document is made or given to the commission or an investigator of the commission acting in the lawful exercise of his or her official duties; and
(3) The misrepresentation is material.
(b) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section are not applicable to a person in the relation of husband and wife, parent or grandparent, child or grandchild, brother or sister, by consanguinity or affinity, of an individual who is the subject of an investigation by the commission.
(c) Any person who violates the provisions of this section 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 jail for not more than one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.