Senate Bill No. 697
(By Senator Schoonover)
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[Introduced February 23, 1998; referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section forty-four-b, article two,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand
nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to increasing
the fee for a bear damage stamp to twenty dollars.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section forty-four-b, article two, chapter twenty of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. WILDLIFE RESOURCES.
§20-2-44b. Bear damage stamp; proceeds to be paid into bear
damage fund; purposes, etc.
Any hunter licensed to hunt bear in this state shall in
addition to a hunting license of either Class A, or AB, in the
case of a resident, or C, E, EE, L, LL or M, in the case of a nonresident, have a bear damage stamp which shall be issued by
the department of natural resources and which shall be sold at
places where hunting and fishing licenses are sold. The fee for
a bear damage stamp shall be four twenty dollars and all proceeds
from the sale of such stamps shall be paid into the bear damage
fund which shall be maintained by the department of natural
resources for the purposes of paying claims of property owners
for damages to real and personal property caused by acts of bear
and to cover the expense of hunting, capturing and removing
offending bear to remote areas.
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(NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the fee for
a bear damage stamp to twenty dollars.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.)
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NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS
On page __, section forty-four-b, line __, by changing the
period to a colon and inserting the following: "Provided, That
the bear damage stamp shall be purchased prior to the first day
of the relevant hunting season anywhere in the state."
And,
On page __, section forty-four-b, line __, by striking out
the word "twenty" and inserting in lieu thereof the word "four";
And,
On page one, by striking out the title and substituting
therefor a new title, to read as follows:
Eng. Senate Bill No. 697--A Bill to amend and reenact
section forty-four-b, article two, chapter twenty of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended,
relating to wildlife resources; and requiring the bear damage
stamp to be purchased before the beginning of bear hunting
season.