ENROLLED

H. B. 4106


(By Delegates Rowe, Johnson, Staton, Faircloth and Martin)


[Passed March 12, 1998; in effect ninety days from passage.]




AN ACT to amend article six, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty-three, relating to limitation of nuisance actions for shooting ranges; prohibiting nuisance actions when property purchased near an existing shooting range, establishing limitations of actions when a shooting range is established or undergoes substantial change.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article six, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section twenty- three, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 6. CRIMES AGAINST THE PEACE.
§ 61-6-23. Shooting range; limitations on nuisance actions.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Person" means an individual, proprietorship, partnership, corporation, club or other legal entity;
(2) "Shooting range" or "range" means an area designed and operated for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap, black powder or any other similar shooting.
(b) Except as provided in this section, a person may not maintain a nuisance action for noise against a shooting range located in the vicinity of that person's property if the range was established as of the date of the person acquiring the property. If there is a substantial change in use of the range after the person acquires the property, the person may maintain a nuisance action if the action is brought within two years from the beginning of the substantial change in use of the range.
(c) A person who owned property in the vicinity of a shooting range that was established after the person acquired the property may maintain a nuisance action for noise against that range only if the action is brought within four years after establishment of the range or two years after a substantial change in use of the range.
(d) If there has been no shooting activity at a range for a period of two years, resumption of shooting is considered establishment of a new range for the purposes of this section.