Senate Bill No. 392
(By Senators Kessler, Palumbo, White and Chafin)
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[Introduced February 26, 2009; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §48-27-802 of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to registering protective
orders with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-27-802 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 27. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
§48-27-802. Maintenance of registry by the State Police.
(a) The West Virginia State Police shall maintain a registry
in which it shall enter certified copies of protective orders
entered by courts from every county in this state pursuant to the
provisions of this article and of protection orders issued by
another jurisdiction pursuant to its law:
Provided, That the
provisions of this subsection are not effective until a central
automated state law-enforcement information system is developed.
(b) A petitioner who obtains a protective order pursuant to
this article, or a protection order from another jurisdiction
pursuant to its law, may register that order in any county within
this state where the petitioner believes enforcement may be
necessary:
Provided, That effective January 1, 2010, a petitioner
who obtains a protective order pursuant to article twenty-seven,
chapter forty-eight of this code, or a protective order from
another jurisdiction pursuant to its laws, may register that order
with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals for entry in the
domestic violence database established pursuant to the provisions
of section twenty-one, article one, chapter fifty-one of this code.
(c) A West Virginia protective order may be registered by the
petitioner in a county other than the issuing county by obtaining
a copy of the order of the issuing court, certified by the clerk of
that court, and presenting that certified order to the local office
of the West Virginia State Police where the order is to be
registered.
(d) Upon receipt of a certified order for registration, the
local office of the West Virginia State Police shall provide
certified copies to any law-enforcement agency within its
jurisdiction, including any municipal police office and the office
of the sheriff.
(e) Nothing in this section precludes the enforcement of an
order in a county other than the county or jurisdiction in which the order was issued if the petitioner has not registered the order
in the county in which an alleged violation of the order occurs.
(f) Nothing in this section precludes the enforcement of an
order in a county other than the county or jurisdiction in which
the order was issued if the petitioner has not registered the order
with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow protective orders
to be registered with the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to
be entered into the Domestic Violence Database as provided in
section twenty-one, article one, chapter fifty-one.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.