COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 111
(By Senators Dittmar and Snyder)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported March 5, 1997.]
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A BILL to amend article one, chapter forty-six-a of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one hundred eight, relating to electronic records retention
under the West Virginia consumer credit and protection act.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article one, chapter forty-six-a of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one
hundred eight, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. SHORT TITLE, DEFINITIONS AND GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§46A-1-108. Records retention methods.
(a) All persons subject to the provisions of this chapter
who are required to create or maintain records or other documents
in the course of their business, may copy or reproduce those
records or documents (other than notes, bonds, mortgages and other securities and investments) by any existing and generally
accepted method of reproduction or retention technology and may
substitute copies or reproductions of the records or documents
either in positive or negative form for the originals. Those
electronic records are to be duplicated or backed-up on a daily
basis and stored separately. A copy or reproduction in the form
of a positive print is deemed to be an original counterpart of
and has the same force as the original and is admissible in
evidence in all courts and administrative agencies in this state
for all purposes. The original may be destroyed or otherwise
eliminated.
(b) When copies of documents are offered in evidence, all
circumstances surrounding the making or issuance of the
documents, books, records, correspondence and other instruments,
papers or writings, or the photographic, photostatic or
microphotographic copies or optical disks or other permissible
reproductions represented by the copies, may be shown to affect
the weight of the documents as evidence, but not the
admissibility.
(c) Any device used to copy or reproduce documents and
records shall be one which correctly and accurately reproduces
the original document or record in all details and any disk or
film used for this purpose shall be of durable material.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make clear that
modern, electronic records retention practices may be followed by persons required to create or maintain records under the West
Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.)