H. B. 4361
(By Delegates Miley, Barker, Susman,
Ellem, Schadler, Ferro, Brown,
Longstreth, Moore, Ross)
[Introduced February 5, 2010
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to repeal §48-27-803 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended; and to amend and reenact §48-27-206 of said code, all
relating generally to the prevention and treatment of domestic
violence; removing provisions prohibiting the sharing of
information with other governments and law-enforcement
agencies; and broadening the definition of "law-enforcement
agency" for the purpose of sharing information with the
federal government and its agencies.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §48-27-803 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be repealed; and that §48-27-206 of said code, be amended
and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 27. PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
§48-27-206. Law-enforcement agency defined.
(a) "Law-enforcement agency" means and is limited to:
(1) The state police and its members;
(2) A county sheriff and his or her law-enforcement deputies; and
(3) A police department in any municipality as defined in
section two, article one, chapter eight of this code;
(4) Any federal agency whose purpose includes enforcement,
maintenance and gathering of information of both criminal and civil
records relating to domestic violence under federal law.
(b) The term "law-enforcement agency" includes, but is not
limited to, the Department of Health and Human Resources in those
instances of child abuse reported to the department that are not
otherwise reported to any other law-enforcement agency.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to repeal the section that
prohibits this state from sharing domestic violence information
with other governments. It also broadens the definition of "law-
enforcement agency" so that the division of the Supreme Court that
oversees the domestic violence database can share information with
the federal government and its agencies. At the time these
sections were enacted, West Virginia was not participating in the
national domestic violence registry. The West Virginia Supreme
Court now actively shares information with the federal government
and receives grant moneys to develop and promote its domestic
violence prevention programs. West Virginia will not be eligible
to receive this grant money in the future if it does not continue
to participate in the building of the federal database.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.