Senate Bill No. 384
(By Senators Unger, Hunter, Anderson, Snyder, Mitchell, McKenzie,
Bowman, Helmick, Edgell, Sprouse, Ross, Caldwell, Rowe, McCabe,
Plymale and Love)
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[Introduced March 5, 2001; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to repeal section twenty-eight, article seven, chapter
twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended; to amend article fourteen, chapter
seventeen-c of said code by adding thereto a new section,
designated section fourteen; and to amend and reenact sections
twenty-four and twenty-six, article seven, chapter twenty of
said code, all relating to the crime of littering; making it
a crime to throw litter from a motor vehicle or other
conveyance; assessing three points against driver's license;
creating presumption of responsibility when more than one person is in vehicle; requiring division of motor vehicles
promulgate a rule; defining terms; making it a misdemeanor to
litter on public or private property or waters of the state;
creating fines and community service penalties for certain
violations; establishing jail sentence for certain violations;
providing that landowners, renters and lessees are not
restricted in lawful use of property; creating exceptions for
permitted industrial discharges; prohibiting litter near
waters of the state and providing exception; providing for
verification of community service litter cleanup; establishing
presumption of intent if litter is thrown from motor vehicle,
boat, airplane or other conveyance; providing for enforcement;
creating presumption of ownership if identifying information
found in litter; creating exemption for logos and trademarks;
increasing civil penalties for litter conviction; directing
moneys from civil penalties to go to litter control fund and
county and regional solid waste authorities; and requiring
solid waste authorities expend funds for litter prevention,
cleanup and enforcement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-eight, article seven, chapter twenty of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be repealed; that article fourteen, chapter seventeen-c of
said code be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section fourteen; and that sections twenty-four and twenty-six,
article seven, chapter twenty of said code be amended and
reenacted, all to read as follows:
CHAPTER 17C. TRAFFIC REGULATIONS, LAWS OF THE ROAD.
ARTICLE 14. MISCELLANEOUS RULES.
§17C-14-14. Unlawful to litter from motor vehicle; penalty; rule
making.
(a) It is unlawful for any driver or passenger of a motor
vehicle or other conveyance to place, deposit, dump, throw or cause
to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown, any litter from a motor
vehicle or other conveyance in or upon any public or private
highway, road, street or alley; any private property; any public
property; or the waters of the state or within one hundred feet of
the waters of this state, except in a proper litter or other solid
waste receptacle.
(b) For purposes of this section, "litter" means all waste
material including, but not limited to, any garbage, refuse, trash,
disposable package, container, can, bottle, paper, ashes, cigarette
or cigar butt, carcass of any dead animal or any part thereof, or
any other offensive or unsightly matter, but not including the wastes of primary processes of mining, logging, sawmilling, farming
or manufacturing.
(c) In addition to any penalty imposed for littering under the
provisions of article seven, chapter twenty of this code, any
driver of a motor vehicle or other conveyance convicted of
violating this section shall have three points assessed against his
or her driver's license.
(d) The commissioner shall assess points against the driver's
license of any driver of a motor vehicle or other conveyance found
guilty of violating this section upon receiving notice from a
circuit clerk, magistrate court or municipal court of this state of
the conviction. Circuit clerks, magistrate courts and municipal
courts of this state shall promptly notify the commissioner of the
convictions.
(e) When there is more than one occupant in a motor vehicle or
other conveyance and it can not be determined which occupant is
responsible for violating this section, the driver shall be
presumed to be responsible for the violation.
(f) The commissioner of the division of motor vehicles shall
propose or amend legislative rules for promulgation, in accordance
with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, to effecuate the purposes of this section.
CHAPTER 20. NATURAL RESOURCES.
ARTICLE 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.
§20-7-24. Definitions.
As used in sections twenty-five and twenty-six of this
article, unless the context requires a different meaning:
(a) "Collected for commercial purposes" means taking solid
waste for disposal from any person for remuneration regardless of
whether or not the person taking the solid waste is a common
carrier by motor vehicle governed by article two, chapter
twenty-four-a of this code.
(b) "Court" means any circuit, magistrate or municipal court.
(c) "Litter" means all waste material including, but not
limited to, any garbage, refuse, trash, disposable package,
container, can, bottle, paper, ashes, cigarette or cigar butt,
carcass of any dead animal or any part thereof, or any other
offensive or unsightly matter, but not including the wastes of
primary processes of mining, logging, sawmilling, farming or
manufacturing.
(d) "Litter receptacle" means those containers suitable for
the depositing of litter at each respective public area designated
by the director's
regulations rules promulgated pursuant to subdivision eight, subsection (a), section twenty-five of this
article.
(e) "Public area" means an area outside of a municipality,
including public road and highway rights-of-way, parks and
recreation areas owned or controlled by this state or any county
thereof of this state, or an area held open for unrestricted access
by the general public.
(f) "Waters of the state" means generally, without limitation,
natural or artificial lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, branches,
brooks, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, wells, watercourses
and wetlands.
§20-7-26. Unlawful disposal of litter; civil and criminal
penalty; litter control fund; evidence; notice
violations; litter receptacle placement; penalty;
duty to enforce violations.
(a) (1) No person shall place, deposit, dump, throw or cause
to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown any litter as defined in
section twenty-four of this article, in or upon any public or
private highway, road, street or alley; any private property; any
public property; or the waters of the state or within one hundred
feet of the waters of this state, except in a proper litter or
other solid waste receptacle.
(2) It is unlawful for any person to place, deposit, dump,
throw or cause to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown any litter
from a motor vehicle or other conveyance or to perform any act
which constitutes a violation of the motor vehicle laws contained
in section fourteen, article fourteen, chapter seventeen-c of this
code.
(3) If any litter is placed, deposited, dumped, discharged,
thrown or caused to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown from a
motor vehicle, boat, airplane or other conveyance, it is prima
facie evidence that the owner or the operator of the motor vehicle,
boat, airplane or other conveyance intended to violate the
provisions of this section.
(4) Any person who violates the provisions of this section by
placing, depositing, dumping or throwing or causing to be placed,
deposited, dumped or thrown any litter, not collected for
commercial purposes, in an amount not exceeding one hundred pounds
in weight or twenty-seven cubic feet in size, is guilty of a
misdemeanor. Upon conviction, he or she is subject to a fine of
not less than fifty dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or
in the discretion of the court, sentenced to perform community
service by cleaning up litter from any public highway, road, street, alley or any other public park or public property, or
waters of the state, as designated by the court, for not less than
eight nor more than sixteen hours, or both.
(5) Any person who violates the provisions of this section by
placing, depositing, dumping or throwing or causing to be placed,
deposited, dumped or thrown any litter, not collected for
commercial purposes, in an amount greater than one hundred pounds
in weight or twenty-seven cubic feet in size, but less than five
hundred pounds in weight or two hundred sixteen cubic feet in size
is guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon conviction he or she is subject
to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than two
thousand dollars, or in the discretion of the court, may be
sentenced to perform community service by cleaning up litter from
any public highway, road, street, alley or any other public park or
public property, or waters of the state, as designated by the
court, for not less than sixteen nor more than thirty-two hours, or
both.
(6) Any person who violates the provisions of this section by
placing, depositing, dumping or throwing or causing to be placed,
deposited, dumped or thrown any litter in an amount greater than
five hundred pounds in weight or two hundred sixteen cubic feet in size or any amount which had been collected for commercial
purposes, is guilty of a misdemeanor. Upon conviction the person
is subject to a fine not less than twenty-five hundred dollars or
not more than twenty-five thousand dollars, or confinement in a
county or regional jail for not more than one year or both. In
addition, the violator may be guilty of creating or contributing to
an open dump as defined in section two, article fifteen, chapter
twenty-two of this code and subject to the enforcement provisions
of section fifteen of said article.
(7) Any person convicted of a second or subsequent violation
of this section is subject to double the authorized range of fines
and community service for the subsection violated.
(8) The sentence of litter cleanup shall be verified by
conservation officers from the division of natural resources or
environmental inspectors from the division of environmental
protection. Any defendant receiving the sentence of litter cleanup
shall provide within a time to be set by the court written
acknowledgment from a conservation officer or environmental
inspector that the sentence has been completed and the litter has
been disposed of lawfully.
(9) Any person who has been found by the court to have willfully failed to comply with the terms of a litter cleanup
sentence imposed by the court pursuant to this section is subject
to, at the discretion of the court, double the amount of the
original fines and community service penalties.
(10) All law-enforcement agencies, officers and environmental
inspectors shall enforce compliance with this section within the
limits of each agency's statutory authority.
(11) No portion of this section restricts an owner, renter or
lessee in the lawful use of his or her own private property or
rented or leased property or to prohibit the disposal of any
industrial and other wastes into waters of this state in a manner
consistent with the provisions of article eleven, chapter
twenty-two of this code. But if any owner, renter or lessee,
private or otherwise, knowingly permits any such materials or
substances to be placed, deposited, dumped or thrown in such
location that high water or normal drainage conditions will cause
any such materials or substances to wash into any waters of the
state, it is prima facie evidence that the owner, renter or lessee
intended to violate the provisions of this section:
Provided, That
if a landowner, renter or lessee, private or otherwise, reports any
placing, depositing, dumping or throwing of these substances or materials upon his or her property to the prosecuting attorney,
county commission or the division of natural resources or the
division of environmental protection, then the landowner, renter or
lessee will be presumed to not have knowingly permitted the
placing, depositing, dumping or throwing of the materials or
substances.
(b) Any indication of ownership found in litter shall be prima
facie evidence that the person identified violated the provisions
of this section:
Provided, That no inference shall be drawn solely
from the presence of any logo, trademark, trade name or other
similar mass reproduced things of identifying character appearing
on litter found.
(c) Every person who is convicted of or pleads guilty to
disposing of litter in violation of subsection (a) of this section
shall pay a civil penalty in the sum of not less than one hundred
dollars nor more than one thousand dollars as costs for cleanup,
investigation and prosecution of the case, in addition to any other
court costs that the court is otherwise required by law to impose
upon a convicted person.
The clerk of the circuit court, magistrate court or municipal
court in which these additional costs are imposed shall, on or before the last day of each month, transmit fifty percent of a
civil penalty received pursuant to this section to the state
treasurer for deposit in the state treasury to the credit of a
special revenue fund to be known as the litter control fund which
is hereby continued. Expenditures for purposes set forth in this
section are not authorized from collections but are to be made only
in accordance with appropriation and in accordance with the
provisions of article three, chapter twelve of this code and upon
fulfillment of the provisions set forth in article two, chapter
five-a of this code. Amounts collected which are found from time
to time to exceed the funds needed for the purposes set forth in
this article may be transferred to other accounts or funds and
redesignated for other purposes by appropriation of the
Legislature.
(d) The remaining fifty percent of each civil penalty
collected pursuant to this section shall be transmitted to the
county or regional solid waste authority in the county where the
litter violation occurred. Moneys shall be expended by the county
or regional solid waste authority for the purpose of litter
prevention, litter cleanup and litter enforcement. The county
commission shall cooperate with the county or regional solid waste authority serving the respective county to develop a coordinated
litter control program pursuant to section eight, article four,
chapter twenty-two-c of this code.
(e) (1) The commissioner of the division of motor vehicles,
upon registering a motor vehicle or issuing an operator's or
chauffeur's license, shall issue to the owner or licensee, as the
case may be, a summary of this section and section fourteen,
article fourteen, chapter seventeen-c of the code.
(2) The commissioner of the division of highways shall cause
appropriate signs to be placed at the state boundary on each
primary and secondary road, and at other locations throughout the
state, informing those entering the state of the maximum penalty
provided for disposing of litter in violation of subsection (a) of
this section.
(f) Any state agency or political subdivision that owns,
operates or otherwise controls any public area as may be designated
by the director by rule promulgated pursuant to subdivision (8),
subsection (a), section twenty-five of this article, shall procure
and place litter receptacles at its own expense upon its premises
and shall remove and dispose of litter collected in the litter
receptacles. After receiving two written warnings from any law-enforcement officer or officers to comply with this subsection
or the rules of the director, any person who fails to place and
maintain the litter receptacles upon his or her premises in
violation of this subsection or the rules of the director shall be
fined fifteen dollars per day of the violation.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to strengthen the penalties
for the offense of littering.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§17C-14-14 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
§20-7-26 has been completely rewritten; therefore,
strike-throughs and underscoring have been omitted.
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