Senate Bill No. 25
(By Senators Sharpe, Ross, Helmick, Fanning, Anderson, Minear,
Boley, Love, Schoonover, Hunter, Snyder and White)
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[Introduced February 12, 1997; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section eight, article six-a, chapter
forty-nine of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to reports of
children suspected to be abused or neglected; failure to
report; intentional false report; concealing of relevant
exculpatory information; and civil and criminal penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section eight, article six-a, chapter forty-nine of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6A. REPORTS OF CHILDREN SUSPECTED TO BE ABUSED OR
NEGLECTED.
§49-6A-8. Failure to report; malicious and bad faith allegations
and allegations known to be false or made in reckless
disregard of relevant facts; penalties.
(a) Any person, official or institution required by this
article to report a case involving a child known or suspected to be
abused or neglected, or required by section five of this article to
forward a copy of a report of serious injury, who knowingly fails
to do so or knowingly prevents another person acting reasonably
from doing so, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county jail not more
than ten days or fined not more than one hundred dollars, or both.
(b) Any person, official or institution knowingly and
intentionally making a false report that a child is neglected or
abused or has suffered serious physical abuse, sexual abuse or
sexual assault is exempt from the immunity from civil liability
granted by section six of this article. A cause of action for
damages proximately caused by such a bad faith report of abuse or
neglect may be maintained by a child or by his or her parent,
guardian or custodian for recovery of actual damages incurred,
including, but not limited to, costs of litigation.
(c) Any person or official knowingly and intentionally making
a false assertion or statement of fact alleging that an individual
has committed child abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse, or
child sexual assault shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year or fined not more than one thousand
dollars, or both. A cause of action for treble damages proximately
caused by such a knowingly and intentionally false allegation may
be maintained by a child or by his or her parent, guardian or
custodian for recovery of actual damages incurred, including, but
not limited to, costs of litigation.
(d) Any person or official, while making a report of child
abuse, child neglect, child sexual abuse or child sexual assault to
a medical provider, state department worker, prosecuting attorney
or circuit court, who intentionally conceals or intentionally fails
to disclose relevant exculpatory information known to the reporter
at the time of the making of the report shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in the
county jail for a period not to exceed one year or fined not more
than one thousand dollars, or both. A cause of action for treble
damages proximately caused by such knowing and intentional
concealment or failure to disclose exculpatory information may be
maintained by a child or by his or her parent, guardian or
custodian for recovery of actual damages incurred, including, but
not limited to, costs of litigation.
(e) Any individual with knowledge of facts tending to prove a
criminal violation of this section shall, upon application to the
circuit court of the county in which the violation occurred, be
afforded the opportunity to appear before the grand jury to provide
information relevant to the violation.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the
misdemeanor offense of intentionally making false child abuse
allegations and gives the victim of false allegations a cause of
action for actual damages.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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