H. B. 2025


(By Delegate Ennis)

[Introduced February 14, 2001 ; referred to the

Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources then Finance.]





A BILL to amend and reenact section thirty-three, article two, chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to providing that when county officials or authorized agents have issued a hunting, trapping or fishing license and have assessed an issuing fee, an issuing fee may not be subsequently assessed if a person later purchases an additional stamp for that license, so long as the stamp is purchased where the license was initially purchased.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section thirty-three, 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.

§20-2-33. Authority of director to designate agents to issue licenses; bonds; fees.
(a) The director may appoint, in addition to the clerk of the county commission, agents to issue licenses under the provisions of this article to serve the convenience of the public. Each person appointed shall, before issuing any license, file with the director a bond payable to the state of West Virginia, in the amount to be fixed by the director, conditioned upon the faithful performance of his or her obligation to issue licenses only in conformity with the provisions of this article and to account for all license fees received by him or her. The form of the bond shall be prescribed by the attorney general. No person, other than those designated as issuing agents by the director, shall sell licenses or buy the licenses for the purposes of resale.
(b) Except when a license is purchased from a state official, every person making application for a license shall pay, in addition to the license fee prescribed for it in this article, an additional fee of seventy-five cents to any county official issuing the license and all fees collected by county officials shall be paid by them into the general fund of the county treasury or, in the case of an agent issuing the license, an additional fee of one dollar as compensation: Provided, That only one fee of seventy-five cents or one dollar shall be collected by county officials or authorized agents, respectively, for issuing two or more licenses at the same time for use by the same person or for issuing combination resident statewide hunting, trapping and fishing licenses: Provided, however, That licenses may be issued electronically in a manner prescribed by the director, and persons purchasing electronically issued licenses may be assessed, in addition to the license fee prescribed in this article, an electronic issuance fee to be prescribed by the director: Provided, further, That when a county official or authorized agent has issued a license and assessed the respective fee of seventy- five cents or one dollar, an issuing fee may not be subsequently assessed if a person later purchases an additional stamp for that license, so long as the stamp is purchased where the license was initially purchased.
(c) In lieu of the license issuance fee prescribed in subsection (b) of this section, the director shall propose rules for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, governing the application for and issuance of licenses by telephone and other electronic methods.


NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide that where county officials or authorized agents have issued a hunting, trapping or fishing license and have assessed an issuing fee, an issuing fee may not be subsequently assessed if a person later purchases an additional stamp for that license, so long as the stamp is purchased where the license was initially purchased.

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