SB314 H Jud AM #1

Casto 3264

The Committee on the Judiciary moved to amend the bill on page 1 by striking everything after the enacting clause and inserting in lieu thereof the following:

ARTICLE 26. PAWNBROKERS.

§47-26-1. Definitions.

(a) “Pawnbroker” means any person, partnership, association, corporation, or employee thereof advancing money in a pawn transaction in exchange for collateral in the property of the pledgor. Pawnbroker does not mean any bank which is regulated by the West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions; the Comptroller of the Currency of the United States; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, or any other federal or state authority and all affiliates thereof; and any bank or savings and loan association whose deposits or accounts are eligible for insurance by the Bank Insurance Fund or the Savings Association Insurance Fund or other fund administered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and all affiliates thereof, any state or federally chartered credit union, and any finance company subject to licensing and regulation by the West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions.

(b) “Pawn transaction” means a transaction between a pawnbroker and a pledgor where the pledgor’s property is placed in the possession of the pawnbroker as security for money or other valuable consideration provided to the pledgor on the condition that the pledgor may pay a pawn charge and redeem his or her property within a predetermined time frame. Pawn transactions do not include those transactions where securities, titles, or printed evidence of indebtedness are used as security for the transaction.

(c) “Pledgor” means a person who delivers the pledge into the possession of a pawnbroker.

(d) “Purchase” or “purchase transaction” means the transfer and delivering of goods by a person to a pawnbroker by acquisition for value, consignment, or trade for other goods. This definition does not include purchases by pawnbrokers of items not used or intended for resale, consignment, or trade of the item to another.

§47-26-2a. Prohibited acts.

A pawnbroker may not purchase, accept in pawn, receive in trade, or exchange for goods:

(1) Articles from a minor;

(2) Articles from a person who appears to be intoxicated or under the influence of a controlled substance at the time of the transaction;

(3) Articles that the pawnbroker knows, or has reason to believe, are stolen; and

(4) Property with serial numbers, personalized inscriptions or initials, or other identifying marks that the pawnbroker knows, or has reason to believe, have been intentionally altered or rendered illegible.

§47-26-3. Penalties; pawnbroker.

(a) A pawnbroker who violates the provisions of this article is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $100 $250 nor more than $200 $1,000 for each offense.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section, any person convicted of a third violation of §47-26-2 or §47-26-2a of this code where the offenses occurred within a three-year period is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than $1,000 nor more than $3,000, or confined in jail for not more than six months, or both fined and confined.