H. B. 2700
(By Delegate Kiss)
[Introduced March 24, 1993; referred to the
Committee on Finance.]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections six, eight, ten and eleven,
article two, chapter six of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
official bonds; increasing certain state, county and
municipal performance bonds; and requiring the state, each
county and each municipality to provide blanket faithful
performance bonds for certain officers, employees and
members and employees of boards and commissions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections six, eight, ten and eleven, article two,
chapter six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read
as follows:
ARTICLE 2. OFFICIAL AND OTHER BONDS.
§6-2-6. Bonds of certain state officers.
The following officers shall give bonds to be approved by
the governor, in the penalties hereinafter named: Secretary ofstate,
twenty-five five hundred thousand dollars; auditor,
fifty
thousand one million dollars; treasurer, five
hundred thousand
million dollars; state superintendent of free schools,
three one
hundred thousand dollars; and commissioner of agriculture,
five
two hundred thousand dollars.
Prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, the secretary of administration may contract to
provide a blanket faithful performance bond which meets standard
auditing requirements for those state officers, employees,
administrators, members and staff of state boards and
commissions.
§6-2-8. Bond of clerk of supreme court of appeals.
The clerk of the supreme court of appeals shall give bond,
to be approved by
said the court.
in a penalty of not less than
three thousand nor more than ten thousand dollars, as the court
shall prescribe The clerk may be included under the blanket
faithful performance bond provided for in section six of this
article.
§6-2-10. Bonds of county officers.
Every commissioner of a county commission and every clerk of
a circuit court shall give bond with good security, to be
approved by the circuit court, or the judge thereof in vacation;
and every sheriff, deputy sheriff, surveyor of lands, clerk of a
county commission, assessor, county superintendent of schools,
notary public and magistrate shall give bond with good security,
to be approved, unless otherwise provided by law, by the countycommission of the county in which such officer is to act. The
penalty of the bond of each commissioner of a county commission
shall be not less than
twenty one hundred thousand dollars and
not more than
two five hundred thousand dollars, the amount to be
fixed by the circuit court of the county, or the judge thereof in
vacation, by order entered of record on the proper order books of
both the county and circuit courts; of the clerk of the circuit
court, not less than
ten fifty thousand nor more than
fifty one
hundred thousand dollars; of the sheriff, not less than
one
hundred seven hundred fifty thousand dollars nor more than the
aggregate amount of all state, county, district, school
and
municipal
and other moneys which will probably come into his
hands property and money received, managed or transferred by the
sheriff during any one year of his
or her term of office:
Provided,
That the maximum amount of the bond of the sheriff may
be calculated from tables and formulas established by the surety
association of America; of the deputy sheriff, not less than
thirty-five thousand nor more than one hundred thousand dollars;
of the surveyor of lands, not less than one thousand nor more
than three thousand dollars; of the clerk of the county
commission, not less than ten fifty thousand nor more than fifty
one hundred thousand dollars; of the assessor, not less than two
thousand nor more than five thousand dollars; of the county
superintendent of schools, not less than ten fifty thousand nor
more than fifty one hundred thousand dollars; of a notary public,
not less than two hundred fifty nor more than one thousanddollars. Any public body required to pay the premiums on
official bonds may shall provide a blanket employee performance
bond policy for two or more such official bonds:
Provided,
That
the bond herein required to be given by a notary public may be
given before the clerk of the county commission, in the vacation
of said commission, and approved by it at its next regular
session.
Prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four, every county commission may contract to provide a
bond, in the form of a blanket public employee faithful
performance bond, which meets generally accepted auditing
standards for all elected county officers, their employees and
members and employees of county boards and commissions.
For the purposes of this section, "deputy sheriff" shall
mean means a person appointed by a sheriff as his deputy whose
primary duty as such deputy is within the scope of active,
general law enforcement and as such is authorized to carry deadly
weapons, patrol the highways, perform police functions, make
arrests or safeguard prisoners.
§6-2-11. Bonds of municipal officers.
(a) Every officer or employee of a municipality who handles
public funds or property, and every other officer or employee of
a municipality of whom it shall be required, shall, unless
otherwise provided by law, give bond, with good security, to be
approved by the council or other similar body of such the
municipality, and in such a penalty as such the council or othersimilar body shall prescribe, conditioned upon the faithful
discharge of the duties of his office or employment and the
faithful accounting for and paying over, as required by law, of
any funds or property coming into his possession.
(b) Prior to the first day of July, one thousand nine
hundred ninety-four, every municipality may contract to provide
a bond, in the form of a blanket public employee faithful
performance bond, which meets generally accepted auditing
standards for elected municipal officers, their employees and
members and employees of municipal boards and commissions.
(c) The provisions of subsection (a) of this section are not
in effect after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred
ninety-four.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase minimum bond
requirements for state, county and municipal officers and
employees and to require that by July 1, 1994, the state, each
county and each municipality provide blanket faithful performance
bonds for officers, employees and members and employees of state,
county and municipal boards and commissions.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.