Surety bonds are required by law
for many circumstances in which a company or person does business with the
State or with private citizens. In some cases alternative forms of
surety, such as deposit accounts, are authorized. However, most surety
bonds are issued by insurance or surety companies authorized to do business in
West Virginia. The bond usually consists of two parts: first, the bond
form containing the information about and signature of the bonded person or
company and the signature of the bonding company's agent; and second, a
power-of-attorney provided by the surety company giving the agent authority to
issue the bond and bind the surety company to the amount of the bond.
The bond provides assurance that
some assets (up to the cash amount of the bond) will be available in case of a
proven claim against the bonded person relating to the services covered by the
bond. For example, if a private investigator accepted payment in advance
and then never provided the services, the customer could file a claim against
the bond to get some of the payment back.
Several licenses, commissions and
registrations handled by the Secretary of State are subject to bonding
requirements, including:
Commissioner
for West Virginia
Credit Service Organization (in certain circumstances)
Private Investigator
Professional Fundraiser
Security Guard
Copies of the executed bond forms
are normally filed with the registrations of these entities.
Surety bonds are required for many
other licenses and registrations within the State of West Virginia.
However, most of those bonds are filed in the agency that handles the
particular registration. The Attorney General approves the form of any
surety bond filed with the State.
One bond that is specifically
required to be filed with the Board of Public Works, for which the Secretary
of State serves as Secretary, is the bond for vendors who contract with the
State to sell textbooks and instructional materials to the fifty-five county
school systems. Statewide selection of textbooks is conducted through
the State Board of Education and selected vendors enter into contracts and
execute a surety bond to assure the terms of the contract are met.
