ENGROSSED

Senate Bill No. 255

(By Senators Wooton, Caldwell, Hunter, Kessler, Mitchell, Rowe and Snyder)

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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;


reported February 28, 2001.]

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A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article eight-a, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to employment or use of minor to produce obscene matter or assist in sexually explicit conduct for display or distribution; and penalties.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article eight-a, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8A. PREPARATION, DISTRIBUTION OR DISPLAY OF OBSCENE MATTER TO MINORS.
§61-8A-5. Employment or use of minor to produce obscene matter or assist in doing sexually explicit conduct for display or distribution; penalties.

Any adult who, with knowledge that a person is a minor or who fails to exercise reasonable care in ascertaining the age of a minor, hires, employs or uses such minor to produce obscene matter or to do or assist in doing producing matter containing any sexually explicit conduct is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than fifty thousand dollars or confined in a state correctional facility for not more than ten years, or both.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to clarify the applicability of the law passed last session.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.)