WEST virginia legislature

2024 regular session

ENROLLED

House Bill 5696

By Delegate Howell

[Passed March 8, 2024; in effect ninety days from passage.]

AN ACT to amend and reenact §20-17B-2 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to lead member county of the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

§20-17B-2. Creation of Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority and establishment of recreation area.

(a) There is hereby created the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority consisting of representatives from all counties in the northern panhandle – Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, and Marshall – and Ohio River valley counties to include Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Wood, Jackson, Mason, and Cabell, organized pursuant to the provisions of §20-17-1 et seq. of this code. This authority is authorized to establish an Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Area within the jurisdictions of those counties and the authority shall be subject to the powers, duties, immunities, and restrictions provided in §20-17-1 et seq. of this code. Visitors and participants in recreational activities within the trail network shall, in similar respects, be subject to the user requirements and prohibitions of §20-17-7 of this code.

(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, an adjacent county may join the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority pursuant to the procedures set forth in §20-17-3(b) of this code.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a) of this section, the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority may merge with another multicounty trail network authority, pursuant to the procedures set forth in §20-17-3(c) of this code.

(d) Notwithstanding §20-17A-4 of this code, Wood County shall serve as the lead member of the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority for the purposes of establishing the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority trail network and coordinating with the Mountaineer Trail Network Recreation Authority. Upon completion of establishment of linkages with the Mountaineer Trail Network Recreation Authority, the Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority shall continue to administer and manage its own trail system.

(e) The Upper Ohio Valley Trail Network Recreation Authority may set goals of connecting to the Mountaineer Trail Network and any other trails in adjacent neighboring states that can be feasibly connected.

The Clerk of the House of Delegates and the Clerk of the Senate hereby certify that the foregoing bill is correctly enrolled.

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Clerk of the House of Delegates

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Clerk of the Senate

Originated in the House of Delegates.

In effect ninety days from passage.

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Speaker of the House of Delegates

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President of the Senate

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The within is ................................................ this the...........................................

Day of ..........................................................................................................., 2024.

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Governor