H. B. 2027
(By Delegate Boggs)
[Introduced January 11, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §14-2A-30, relating
to allowing awards under the crime victims compensation
program to be made to victims of identity theft.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §14-2A-30, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2A. COMPENSATION AWARDS TO VICTIMS OF CRIMES.
§14-2A-30. Awards for victims of identity theft.
(a) Notwithstanding the definitions contained in section three
of this article or any other provision of this article, the court
may make an award to a victim of identity theft, to the extent
funds are available and as provided in this section. The award may
not exceed one thousand dollars for reasonable travel expenses incurred by the victim in attending court proceedings that are
conducted for the prosecution of the offender.
(b) As used in this section:
(1) "Identity theft" means the unauthorized use of another
individual's personal identifying information to obtain credit,
goods, services, money or property.
(2) "Personal identifying information" means an individual's
name, address, telephone number, driver's license number, social
security number, place of employment, employee identification
number, mother's maiden name, demand deposit account number,
savings account number or credit card number.
(3) "Victim of identity theft" means an individual who had his
or her personal identifying information used without authorization
by another to obtain credit, goods, services, money or property,
and did not use or possess the credit, goods, services, money or
property obtained by the identity theft, and filed a police report
in this regard.
(c) All procedures for filing and processing an application
for compensation provided in this article, to the extent
applicable, apply to a victim seeking an award under this section.
The victim shall be considered a claimant for purposes of seeking
an award under this article.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to
allow awards, under the crime victims compensation program, to be made to victims of
identity theft.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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