H. B. 4117


(By Delegates Modesitt, Stemple, Ashley,

Stalnaker, Azinger, L. Smith and Williams)

[Introduced January 21, 2000; referred to the

Committee on Government Organization.]




A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article seven, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to renaming conservation officers as natural resources police officers.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article seven, 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 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT, MOTOR BOATING, LITTER.
PART I. LAW ENFORCEMENT, PROCEDURES AND PENALTIES.

§20-7-1. Chief natural resources police officer; natural resources police officers; special and emergency natural resources police officers; subsistence allowance; expenses.

(a) The division's law-enforcement policies, practices and programs shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of the division law-enforcement officer selected by the director and designated as chief conservation officer as provided in section thirteen, article one of this chapter.
(b) Under the supervision of the director, the chief conservation officer shall organize, develop and maintain law-enforcement practices, means and methods geared, timed and adjustable to seasonal, emergency and other needs and requirements of the division's comprehensive natural resources program. All division personnel detailed and assigned to law-enforcement duties and services under this section shall be known and designated as conservation officers and shall be under the immediate supervision and direction of the chief conservation officer. All conservation officers shall be trained, equipped and conditioned for duty and services wherever and whenever required by division law-enforcement needs.
(c) The chief conservation officer, acting under supervision of the director, is authorized to select and appoint emergency conservation officers for a limited period of time for effective enforcement of the provisions of this chapter when considered necessary because of emergency or other unusual circumstances. The emergency conservation officers shall be selected from qualified civil service personnel of the division, except in emergency situations and circumstances when the director may designate officers, without regard to civil service requirements and qualifications, to meet law-enforcement needs. Emergency conservation officers shall exercise all powers and duties prescribed in section four of this article for full-time salaried conservation officers except the provisions of subdivision (8) of said section.
(d) The chief conservation officer, acting under supervision of the director, is also authorized to select and appoint as special conservation officers any full-time civil service employee who is assigned to, and has direct responsibility for management of, an area owned, leased or under the control of the division and who has satisfactorily completed a course of training established and administered by the chief conservation officer, when such action is considered necessary because of law-enforcement needs. The powers and duties of a special conservation officer, appointed under this provision, is the same within his or her assigned area as prescribed for full-time salaried conservation officers. The jurisdiction of the person appointed as a special conservation officer, under this provision, shall be limited to the division area or areas to which he or she is assigned and directly manages.
(e) The chief conservation officer, acting under supervision of the director, is also authorized to appoint as special conservation officers any full-time civil service forest fire control personnel who have satisfactorily completed a course of training established and administered by the chief conservation officer. The jurisdiction of forest fire control personnel appointed as special conservation officers is limited to the enforcement of the provisions of article three of this chapter.
(f) The chief conservation officer, with the approval of the director, has the power and authority to revoke any appointment of an emergency conservation officer or of a special conservation officer at any time.
(g) Conservation officers are subject to seasonal or other assignment and detail to duty whenever and wherever required by the functions, services and needs of the division.
(h) The chief conservation officer shall designate the area of primary residence of each conservation officer, including himself or herself. Since the area of business activity of the division is actually anywhere within the territorial confines of the state of West Virginia, actual expenses incurred shall be paid whenever the duties are performed outside the area of primary assignment and still within the state.
(i) Conservation officers shall receive, in addition to their base pay salary, a minimum monthly subsistence allowance for their required telephone service, dry cleaning or required uniforms, and meal expenses while performing their regular duties in their area of primary assignment in the amount of one hundred thirty dollars each month. This subsistence allowance does not apply to special or emergency conservation officers appointed under this section.
(j) After the thirtieth day of June, two thousand, all full-time law-enforcement officers employed by the division of natural resources and referred to as conservation officers shall be known as and referred to as natural resources police officers. Wherever these law-enforcement officers are referred to in this code as "conservation officers" that term shall mean "natural resources police officers."



Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would be added.