ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 6002
(By Senators Tomblin, Mr. President, and Sprouse,
By Request of the Executive)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported October 25, 2001.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section seventeen, article six, chapter
sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to further amend said
chapter by adding thereto a new article, designated article
six-a, all relating to false terrorist threats; making the
penalty for false reports concerning bombs or other explosive
devices a felony; allowing for economic loss as restitution;
penalties; prohibiting the use, manufacture or possession of
counterfeit or hoax materials to commit a terrorist act;
defining terms; prohibiting false threats or conveying false
information in certain instances; allowing for economic loss as restitution; and penalties.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section seventeen, article six, chapter sixty-one of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that said chapter be further
amended by adding thereto a new article, designated article six-a,
all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
§61-6-17. False reports concerning bombs or other explosive
devices; penalties.
(a) Any person who shall impart or convey or cause to be
imparted or conveyed any false information, knowing or having
reasonable cause to believe such information to be false,
concerning the presence of any bomb or other explosive device in,
at, on, near, under or against any dwelling house, structure,
improvement, building, bridge, motor vehicle, vessel, boat,
railroad car, airplane or other place, or concerning an attempt or
alleged attempt being made or to be made to so place or explode any
such bomb or other explosive device, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished
by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one
two thousand dollars, or by confinement in the county jail for not more than one year a state correctional facility for not less than
one nor more than three years, or both.
(b) Any person violating any provision of subsection (a) of
this section shall, for the second or any subsequent offense under
this section, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars
nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in the state
penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than five years,
or both, or, in the discretion of the court, shall be punished by
a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one
thousand dollars and by confinement in the county jail for not more
than one year.
(b) If any person violates any provision of this section and
the violation directly causes economic harm as defined in
subsection (c) of this section, in addition to any other penalty,
the circuit court may order the offender to pay the victim or
victims restitution, in accordance with the provisions of article
eleven-a of this chapter, for economic loss caused by such
violation, in an amount not to exceed the economic harm suffered.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the circuit
court's authority to order restitution pursuant to the provisions
of this code.
(c) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the
contrary, any person violating the provisions of subsection (a) of
this section whose violation of the subsection results in another
suffering serious bodily injury shall be guilty of a felony and,
upon conviction thereof, shall be confined in a correctional
facility for not less than one nor more than five years or fined
not more than ten thousand dollars, or both. Each such injury
covered by a violation of subsection (a) shall constitute a
separate offense.
(c) As used in this section "economic harm" means all direct,
incidental, and consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim
as a result of criminal conduct. "Economic harm" includes, but is
not limited to, all of the following:
(1) All wages, salaries, or other compensation lost as a
result of the terrorist act;
(2) The cost of all wages, salaries, or other compensation
paid to employees for time those employees are prevented from
working as a result of the terrorist act;
(3) The cost of all wages, salaries or other compensation paid
to employees for time those employees spent in reacting to the
results of the terrorist act.
(4) The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the terrorist act;
(5) The loss of value to tangible or intangible property that
was damaged as a result of the terrorist conduct.
ARTICLE 6A. CRIMES AGAINST THE PUBLIC SAFETY AND CONFIDENCE.
§61-6A-1. Short title.
This article shall be known and cited as "The West Virginia
Terrorist Threat Act."
§61-6A-2. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless the context otherwise
requires:
(a) "Biological agent" means any micro-organism, virus,
infectious substance, or biological product designed or engineered
as a result of biotechnology, or any naturally occurring or
bioengineered component of any microorganism, virus, infectious
substance, or biological product, capable of causing:
(1) Death, disease, or other biological malfunction in a
human, an animal, a plant, or another living organism;
(2) Deterioration of food, water, equipment, supplies, or
material of any kind; or
(3)Deleterious alteration of the environment.
(b) "Counterfeit biological agent, nuclear material, nuclear
byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin, or vector" means a substance which, or the container or labeling of which, without
authorization bears the trademark, trade name, or other
identifying, imprint, number or device, or any likeness of a
biological agent, nuclear material, nuclear byproduct material,
toxic chemical, toxin or vector or of any manufacturer,
distributor, or dispenser other than the person who in fact
manufactured, distributed or dispensed the biological agent,
nuclear material, nuclear byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin
or vector.
(c) "Economic harm" means all direct, incidental, and
consequential pecuniary harm suffered by a victim as a result of
criminal conduct. "Economic harm" includes, but is not limited to,
all of the following:
(1) All wages, salaries, or other compensation lost as a
result of the terrorist act;
(2) The cost of all wages, salaries, or other compensation
paid to employees for time those employees are prevented from
working as a result of the terrorist act;
(3) The cost of all wages, salaries or other compensation paid
to employees for time those employees spent in reacting to the
results of the terrorist act.
(4) The overhead costs incurred for the time that a business is shut down as a result of the terrorist act;
(5) The loss of value to tangible or intangible property that
was damaged as a result of the criminal conduct.
(d) "Hoax biological agent, nuclear material, nuclear
byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector" means a
substance which is not a biological agent, nuclear material,
nuclear byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector but is
falsely represented to be a biological agent, nuclear material,
nuclear byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector, or a
substance which is not a biological agent, nuclear material,
nuclear byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector which
is shaped, sized, colored, marked, imprinted, numbered, labeled,
packaged, distributed, priced, delivered so as to cause a
reasonable person to believe that the substance is a biological
agent, nuclear material, nuclear byproduct material, toxic
chemical, toxin or vector.
(e) "Nuclear material" means material containing any:
(1) Plutonium;
(2) Uranium not in the form of ore or ore residue that
contains the mixture of isotopes as occurring in nature;
(3) Enriched uranium, which means uranium that contains the
isotope 233 or 235 or both in such amount that the abundance ratio of the sum of those isotopes to the isotope 238 is greater than the
ratio of the isotope 235 to the isotope 238 occurring in nature;
or,
(4) Uranium 233;
(f) "Nuclear byproduct material" means any material containing
any radioactive isotope created through an irradiation process in
the operation of a nuclear reactor or accelerator;
(g) "Toxic chemical" means any chemical which through its
chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary
incapacitation or permanent harm to humans or animals. The term
includes all such chemicals, regardless of their origin or of their
method of production, and regardless of whether they are produced
in facilities, in munitions or elsewhere.
(h) "Terrorist act" means an act willfully and intentionally
committed that is intended to:
(1) Intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(2) Influence the policy of a branch or level of government by
intimidation or coercion;
(3) Affect the conduct of a branch or level of government by
intimidation or coercion; or
(4) Retaliate against a branch or level of government for a
policy or conduct of the government.
(i) "Toxin" means the toxic material of plants, animals,
microorganisms, viruses, fungi, or infectious substances, or a
recombinant molecule, whatever its origin or method of production,
including any poisonous substance or biological product engineered
as a result of biotechnology produced by a living organism; or any
poisonous isomer or biological product, homology, or derivative of
a poisonous substance or biological product.
(j) "Vector" means a living organism, or molecule, including
a recombinant molecule, or biological product that may be
engineered as a result of biotechnology, capable of carrying a
biological agent or toxin to a host.
§61-6A-3. Manufacture, delivery or possession or use of a
counterfeit or hoax biological agent, nuclear material,
nuclear byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector;
threats cause injury; penalties.
(a) It is unlawful for any person to manufacture, deliver, or
possess a counterfeit biological agent, nuclear material, nuclear
byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector with the
specific intent to commit a terrorist act. Any person who violates
the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be imprisoned in a state correctional
facility for a not less than one nor more than three years or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.
(b) It is unlawful for any person to manufacture, deliver, or
possess a hoax biological agent, nuclear material, nuclear
byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or vector with the
specific intent to commit a terrorist act. Any person who violates
the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be confined in a regional or county jail
for not less than one year nor more than three years or fined not
less than five thousand dollars, or both.
(c) It is unlawful for any person to use a counterfeit or hoax
biological agent, nuclear material, nuclear byproduct material,
toxic chemical, toxin or vector with the specific intent to commit
a terrorist act. Any person who violates the provisions of this
subsection is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof,
shall be confined in a state correctional facility for not less
than one year nor more than three years or fined not more than five
thousand dollars, or both.
(d) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly and willfully
make any threat, or convey false information knowing the same to be
false, concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made, or to
be made, to kill, injure, or intimidate any individual or
unlawfully damage or destroy any building, vehicle, or other real or personal property by means of a biological agent, nuclear
material, nuclear byproduct material, toxic chemical, toxin or
vector. Any person who violates the provisions of this subsection
is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
confined in a state correctional facility for not less than one
year nor more than three years or fined not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or both.
§61-6A-4. Violations causing economic harm.
If any person violates any provision of this article and the
violation directly causes economic harm as defined in section one
of this article, in addition to any other penalty, the circuit
court may order the offender to pay the victim or victims,
restitution in accordance with the provisions of article eleven-a
of this chapter for the economic harm caused by such violation in
an amount not to exceed the economic harm suffered. Nothing in
this section shall be construed to limit the circuit court's
authority to order restitution pursuant to other provisions of this
code.
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