H. B. 4247
(By Delegates Ron Thompson, Frich, Hrutkay,
Perry, H. White, Marshall, Iaquinta, Beach,
Hamilton and G. White)
[Introduced January 30, 2006; referred to the
Committee on Banking and Insurance then the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact §31A-4-35 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the time period for which state
banks must retain records.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §31A-4-35 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 4. BANKING INSTITUTIONS AND SERVICES GENERALLY.
§31A-4-35. Reproduction of checks and other records;
admissibility of copies in evidence; disposition
of originals; record production generally.
(a) Any bank may cause to be copied or reproduced, by any
photographic, photostatic, microphotographic or by similar
miniature photographic process or by nonerasable optical image
disks (commonly referred to as compact disks) or by other records
retention technology approved by rule of the Commissioner of
Banking, all or any number of its checks, and all or any part of
its documents, books, records, correspondence and all other instruments, papers and writings, in any manner relating to the
operation of its business, other than its notes, bonds, mortgages
and other securities and investments, and may substitute such
copies or reproductions either in positive or negative form for the
originals thereof. Thereafter, such copy or reproduction in the
form of a positive print thereof, shall be deemed is for all
purposes to be an original counterpart of and shall have has the
same force and effect as the original thereof and shall be is
admissible in evidence in all courts and administrative agencies in
this state, to the same extent, and for the same purposes as the
original thereof, and the banking institution may destroy or
otherwise dispose of the original, but every banking institution
shall retain either the originals or such the copies or
reproductions of its records of final entry, including, without
limiting the generality of the foregoing, cards used under the card
system and deposit tickets for deposits made, for a period of at
least six five years from the date of the last entry on such the
books or the date of making of such the deposit tickets and card
records, or, in the case of a banking institution exercising trust
or fiduciary powers, accounting and legal records shall be retained
until the expiration of six five years from the date of termination
of any trust or fiduciary relationship relating to such the
accounting and legal records by a final accounting, release, court
decree or other proper means of termination, and supporting documentation for fiduciary account transactions shall be retained
for six five years from the dates of entry of such the
transactions.
All circumstances surrounding the making or issuance of such
checks, documents, books, records, correspondence and other
instruments, papers or writings, or the photographic, photostatic
or microphotographic copies or optical disks or other permissible
reproductions thereof, when the same are offered in evidence, may
be shown to affect the weight but not the admissibility thereof.
Any device used to copy or reproduce such documents and
records shall be one which correctly and accurately reproduces the
original thereof in all details and any disk or film used therein
shall be of durable material.
(b) When a subpoena duces tecum is served upon a custodian of
records of any bank in an action or proceeding in which the bank is
neither a party nor the place where any cause of action is alleged
to have arisen and the subpoena requires the production of all or
any part of the records of the bank relating to the conduct of its
business with its customers, the bank shall be is entitled to a
search fee not to exceed ten dollars, together with reimbursement
for costs incurred in the copying or other reproduction of any such
record or records which have already been reduced to written form,
in an amount not to exceed seventy-five cents per page. Any and
all such costs shall be borne by the party requesting the production of the record or records.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to reduce the time period
for record keeping for state banks from six to five years so that
it is the same as federal requirements under the Bank Secrecy Act.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.