H. B. 2222
(By Delegates Campbell and Mahan)
[Introduced February 15, 2001; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section twenty-six, article seven,
chapter twenty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the crime of
littering; and providing for additional penalties, including
the assessment of points against an individual's driver's
license and mandatory pick up of litter.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section twenty-six, 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, MOTORBOATING, LITTER.
§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) Any person who places, deposits, dumps or throws or
causes 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, or upon any
private property without the consent of the owner, or in or upon
any public park or other public property other than in such a place
as may be set aside for such that purpose by the governing body
having charge thereof, is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon his or
her first conviction, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars
nor more than five hundred dollars: Provided,
That a person
shall
may
shall not be held responsible for the actions of animals under
their direct control. At the request of the defendant or in the
discretion of the court, the Additionally, the court may shall
sentence the defendant to pick up and remove from any public
highway, road, street, alley or any other public park or public
property as designated by the court, any and all litter, garbage,
refuse, trash, cans, bottles, papers, ashes, carcass of any dead
animal or any part thereof, offal or any other offensive or
unsightly matter placed, deposited, dumped or thrown contrary to the provisions of this section by anyone. prior to the date of
such conviction For the first offense, the alternative sentence
of litter pickup shall be not less than eight hours nor more than
sixteen hours in lieu of a fine. For purposes of this subdivision,
the term "court" includes circuit, magistrate and municipal courts.
(2) Upon his or her second conviction, such the person shall
be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars nor more than one
thousand dollars: Provided,
That a person
shall
At the request of the defendant or in the discretion of the court,
the court may Additionally, the court shall sentence the defendant
to pick up and remove from any public highway, road, street, alley
or any other public park or public property as designated by the
court, any and all litter, garbage, refuse, trash, cans, bottles,
papers, ashes, carcass of any dead animal or any part thereof of a
dead animal, offal or any other offensive or unsightly matter
placed, deposited, dumped or thrown contrary to the provisions of
this section by anyone. prior. to the date of such conviction
For the second offense, the alternative sentence of litter pickup
shall be not less than sixteen hours nor more than thirty-two
hours. in lieu of a fine For purposes of this subdivision, the term "court" shall include includes circuit and magistrate courts.
(3) Upon such a person's third and successive conviction, he
or she shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more
than two thousand dollars and confined in the county or regional
jail not less than forty-eight hours nor more than one year:
Provided,
That a person shall not be held is not responsible for
the actions of animals under their direct control. At the request
of the defendant or in the discretion of the court, the court may
Additionally, the court shall sentence the defendant to pick up and
remove from any public highway, road, street, alley or any other
public park or public property as designated by the court, any and
all litter, garbage, refuse, trash, cans, bottles, papers, ashes,
carcass of any dead animal or any part thereof of a dead animal,
offal or any other offensive or unsightly matter placed, deposited,
dumped or thrown contrary to the provisions of this section by
anyone prior to the date of such the conviction. Upon a third
conviction, the alternative sentence of litter pickup shall be not
less than thirty-two hours nor more than sixty-four hours. in lieu
of such fine or incarceration, but not both For purposes of this
subdivision, the term "court" includes circuit and magistrate
courts.
(4) The alternative sentence of litter pickup herein set forth
shall be verified by the conservation officers from the division of
natural resources or environmental inspectors from the division of
environmental protection or a regional engineering technician from
the division of environmental protection pollution prevention and
open dumps program (PPOD) of the county in which the offense
occurred. Any defendant receiving the herein specified alternative
sentence of litter pickup shall provide within a time to be set by
the court written acknowledgment from said the conservation
officers or environmental officers that the sentence has been
completed.
(5) Any person who has been found by the court to have
willfully failed to comply with the terms of an alternative any
sentence imposed by the court pursuant to this section is subject
at the discretion of the court to up to twice the original penalty
provisions available to the court at the time of conviction.
(6) If any litter is thrown or cast from a motor vehicle or
boat, such that action is prima facie evidence that the driver of
such the motor vehicle or boat intended to violate the provisions
of this section. If any litter is dumped or discharged from a
motor vehicle or boat,
such that action is prima facie evidence that the owner and driver of such the motor vehicle or boat
intended to violate the provisions of this section.
(b) Any litter found on any public or private property with
any indication of ownership on it will be is evidence creating a
rebuttable inference it was deposited improperly by the person
whose identity is indicated, and any person who improperly disposes
of litter is subject to either a civil fine of up to five hundred
dollars for such litter or required to pay the costs of removal of
such litter if the removal of such the litter is required to be
done by the division, at the discretion of the director. All such
fines and costs shall be deposited to the litter control fund:
Provided,
That no inference
shall
(c) Every person who is convicted of or pleads guilty to
disposing of litter in violation of subsection (a) of this section
shall pay the sum of not less than fifty dollars nor more than five
hundred dollars as costs for clean-up, investigation and
prosecution in such the case, in addition to any other court costs
that the court is otherwise required by law to impose upon
such the
convicted person.
The clerk of the circuit court, magistrate court or municipal
court wherein such in which additional costs are imposed shall, on
or before the last day of each month, transmit all such costs
received under this subsection 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.
Provided,
That for the fiscal year ending the thirtieth day of
June, one thousand nine hundred ninety-three, expenditures shall be
authorized from collections 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)(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 copy a summary of subsection (a) of this section
which shall include the elements of the offenses of first, second
and third offense littering and the possible penalties.
(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.
(e) 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
such the
litter
receptacles. After receiving two written warnings from any
law-enforcement officer or officers to comply with this subsection
or the said rules of the director, any person who fails to place
and maintain such 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
such the
violation.
(f) No portion of this section
shall
(g) Any law-enforcement officer who shall observe observes a
person violating the provisions of this section has a mandatory
duty to arrest or otherwise prosecute the violator to the limits
provided herein in this section. The West Virginia division of
highways shall investigate and cause to be prosecuted violations of
this section occurring upon the highways of the state as the term
"highways" is defined in chapter seventeen of this code.
(h) The division of motor vehicles shall propose rules for
legislative approval, pursuant to the provisions of chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code to assign point values for violations of
the provisions of subsection (a) of this section in the same manner
as points are assigned for other motor vehicle violations. The
point value so assigned shall be assessed against the driver's
license of any person convicted of a violation of subsection (a) of
this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require the Division of
Motor Vehicles to propose rules for assessing points against drivers licenses upon conviction for littering, and to include
litter pick up as a mandatory part of a sentence upon conviction
for the crime of littering.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.